Attuning to Your Season

Recalibrating & Realigning With What Matters Most

Fall has always been my favorite season. In my essay "Falling Forward,” I wrote about how fall brings us back to familiar rhythms and routines. There's something comforting about the season's traditions — lighting fall candles, sipping pumpkin spice lattes, wearing cozy sweaters, watching "Gilmore Girls" reruns, and savoring soups and chili. These simple pleasures feel like a warm hug when you return home. They invite us to slow down, express gratitude, and enjoy the season's comforts before the busy end-of-year festivities begin.

Falling Forward

As the summer heat retreats, the air crispens, and the autumn foliage falls, I feel it happening — the slowing down, the returning to what I know and remember. It's like nature, which adjusts with each new season. I find myself doing the same — recalibrating to the steady rhythms that ground me and remind me to stay present. 

Joanna Gaines discusses this in her latest Magnolia issue, which is all about attuning to the season. She notes that fall is a time for acknowledging change and refining what we know to grow.

This time of year feels rich with acknowledgement. Fall stirs the leaves, the wind, the dust beneath. The trees outside make a show of tuning in to the natural shifting of things, shaking off what’s worth shedding, undeterred by a more stripped-down posture of living. Nature, one of my favorite teachers, understands what we sometimes forget: Refining what we know is how we grow.

Refining involves examining our patterns, systems, and behaviors to see if they align with our vision, values, season, and goals. Are they still in sync, or do they need readjusting?

As Joanna says, attuning to the season means recognizing and noting what areas of our lives need to change or remain the same. The beauty of attunement is that it also highlights the things worth keeping — the countless wonders and reasons to be thankful.

...the beauty of being attuned is that it can also show you the things worth beholding. The million wonders to savor. The thousand reasons to say thank you. There’s the reality that we may not like what we see when we look curiously. Or we may worry that stepping off the treadmill that keeps us going and doing will only make it harder to jump back on and catch back up. But it also might be our only shot to catch our breath. The only time our soul gets its chance to catch up with us. 

Lately, I've felt like I'm on a never-ending treadmill with all the changes happening around me. But slowing down may be the only opportunity I have to take a breath and notice the opportunities I have to be present, even amid a busy and changing season.

I'm currently focusing on attuning to my family and home life. Maybe it's because our home is currently in upheaval with moving boxes and clothes, shoes, and papers strewn across the floor, or the challenges that come with my husband's work. But I've been thinking a lot about homemaking and the role it plays in creating a home filled with memories and traditions that keep us grounded. I'm currently reading Memory-Making Mom and The Mission of Motherhood for inspiration.

For you, attuning might mean realizing a new rhythm or routine or reassessing a practice. Or it could simply could be savoring the very moment, the season you are in -- the warm cup of coffee on a brisk, fall morning. The infectious giggles and snuggly cuddles from your toddler-baby. The savory soup, seasoned to perfection. Attuning brings what's foggy or forgotten into focus, giving us clarity and causing us to cherish the moments that matter.

Fall is a time to recalibrate to life's steady rhythms by attuning to what matters, appreciating the present moment, and recognizing both the need for change and the aspects of life worth keeping.

What areas of your life could use some attuning this season?

I created seven journaling prompts to help you to attune to what matters most in this season. Gain access to the prompts below by becoming a paid supporter.

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