The Work of Autumn: Cleaning Out the Negativity
The energy of this season, more than any other, supports our letting go of the waste, the old and stale in our lives, leaving us receptive to the pure and new, granting us a vision of who we are in our essence. Autumn returns us to our essence, moves us to eliminate what we no longer need, reveals again what is most precious in our lives.
In Chinese medicine, autumn is the season of the element Metal (or air). Grief is the emotion of the Metal element. It is the emotional suffering you feel when someone or something valued is gone. Oftentimes, the pain of loss can be overwhelming and difficult to understand. Unexpected emotions such as shock, anger, profound sadness, or even guilt can come up.
We all experience some sort of loss in our lifetime and it is appropriate to feel grief at those times. Grief allows us to release, to mourn the loss and bring closure to a chapter, or even an experience in our lives. Grief helps us cleanse and release that which is complete.
When the energy of Metal is blocked or imbalanced within us, our expression of grief likewise becomes imbalanced and inappropriate. It may be excessive and ongoing. Or, in the other extreme, it may be absent, as in those who cannot express their grief.
However, when we are balanced we have the capacity to feel the feelings, ride the wave, then take the beauty of the experience and transform it into the tapestry of who we are and who we are becoming. This is the Alchemy of the Metal Element in all of us.
As we move through the season and it continues it path towards winter, we are called to acknowledge what we learned from the year so far, and take stock of what is valuable and discard the rest.
The Autumn is when the Metal element is at is peak and particularly amenable to healing. Fortunately, using the system of Chinese medicine, we can resurrect and rebuild the Metal within us - in its physical expression as well as in mind and spirit.