In our Autumn 2020 issue, we were honoured to feature a beautiful article on wisdom, letting go, and the gifts of our ancestors by Karolina Banaszkiewicz. Read on to enjoy her wonderful words.
Falling into Abundance
Find the root of your wisdom this autumn
by Karolina Banaszkiewicz
Chestnuts fall from the trees and autumn leaves shower like gold, like rainbows. It is a season of abundance. It is a powerful time of the year to pause, reflect, and question. Am I full? Am I nourished? Am I giving from a full and replenished place? Am I receiving? Are my needs being fulfilled?
Fall is a season of letting go, and letting go is the secret to life. Letting go means releasing any condition of suffering – physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. Letting go means you are getting out of your own way and releasing stress. Letting go means you are reconnecting with your body.
The energy behind what you think and feel does not just disappear if it is held back or repressed. It manifests through the physical body. A number of studies indicate that whenever you transmute the lower emotions (doubt, fear, anger, anxiety, insecurity, sadness, shame, depression) into elevated emotions (gratitude, joy, love, inspiration, peace, wholeness, empowerment), the immune system functions better and your energy increases.
Bessel van der Kolk – a psychiatrist, author, researcher and educator based in Boston – asserts that in order to keep our body safe, we need to move and learn how to control our emotions, behaviours and thoughts. We can do this by practising meditation, mindfulness, breathing and/or singing. It is essential to keep our body alive, for instance, through yoga. Van der Kolk recommends engaging in some sort of practice that involves touch and bodywork as it helps to release physical tension, leading to a release of emotion.
Autumn is a time of the year to really appreciate life, to surrender, and honour and respect what we do not know. It is a mystical season of contemplation and the spirit.
I recently came across a poem entitled ‘Remember’ by Joy Harjo and was moved by its lines:
“Remember the sky that you were born under, know each of the star’s stories. (…)
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled to give you form and breath.
You are evidence of her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their tribes, their families, their histories, too.
Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems. (…)
Remember you are all people and all people are you.”
Learn more about your ancestors and family history. How much do you know about your grandparents’ lives? What skills have you learnt from your parents? Can you identify five people whose words or actions influenced your life? Family isn’t always blood. Has anyone else inspired you to live your life to the fullest? Make a list of those people and thank them. Reflect on how you can use your gifts, talents and strengths to serve others. Travel “home” to the root of your wisdom and shift into an abundance mindset this autumn. Open yourself up to an infinite source of abundance: health, wealth, joy, love and happiness.
Learn more about Karolina at her website, reallyconnect.ie
