November’s Call for Introspection

Despite arriving faded and underdressed, November hands us an abundant basket with a little melancholy tucked away at the bottom. The landscape, often gray and streaked with rain, seems to hold its breath, waiting for sunnier times. This month inspires us to make a feast from what we have on hand—whether we make hearty soup from the last few potatoes at the bottom of the bin or hold one thing in gratitude as we gather around the harvest table. Late autumn reminds us that bounty comes in an array of colors. The more we train our eyes to notice the in-between hues, the more we can appreciate what we see when looking at the world from our small window.

“This November there seems to be nothing to say,” wrote American poet Anne Sexton in her personal correspondence, a quote we can imagine the earth uttering too. Perhaps, herein lies valuable wisdom reminding us that some hours are best spent listening to what was muffled by the noisy busyness of other seasons. As the year winds down, it’s tempting to add up all the things we didn’t accomplish, lament about fewer hours of daylight or rush to plan the holidays. What if we paused instead, right where we are, in the threshold between seasons? What if we devoted a few minutes each day to sit with what remains unfinished, uncertain or unseen?

November asks us to kick off our shoes and feel the foundation beneath us, to take inventory of what we’ve stored up over the year: sustenance we might have overlooked, patience we thought was running out, friendships worthy of dusting off and aspirations that need just a little more commitment. It is a lovely time to ask ourselves questions we might have avoided on sunny days: “In what ways can I nourish my life? What kind of hopes can I bring to the table, and who can I invite?”

Marlaina Donato is an author, painter and composer. Connect at WildflowersAndWoodSmoke.com.

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