Now, come home.

Let us sit around the fire,

sharing food and story of the great

adventures of the day!

What trials did you face?

What heights did you reach?

What wounds need healing?

What tales need sharing?

Now, come home.

Let us sit around the fire,

sharing food and story of the

great adventures of the day!

Here, we rest -

allowing it all to settle

as we become the next wizened versions of self!

Rested and healed;

Nourished;

Stronger;

Wiser;

Ready for the next adventure.

I found my first yellow aspen leaf this week. Hiking through my own backyard forest along a well travelled path, I had taken maybe a dozen steps before I saw it sitting right there on the earth at my feet.

Change - it is in the air!

Not to worry. We aren't in the full bloom of decay that encompasses the autumn season quite yet! There is still much light to explore here in summer days. There is still much to harvest.

Yet, I step outside, take a deep breath, turn my sight towards the forest, and it is plain to see: the tides of change are present, and they speak of endings and deepenings into new beginnings.

I've been spending a great deal of time hiking through my backyard forest this past month. No great adventures - simply, humble wanderings.

How I love a good humble wander!

To move with ease, placing my feet on dirt and rock and root as I breathe freely. It is, in a sense, a homecoming.

Returning to simplicity. Returning to foundations. Returning to ground.

Now, come home.

Let us sit around the fire.

Let us rest our feet here on this earth.

Let us breathe with ease.

Let us come home.

-

As I am here, I am sitting with a question

It is one that burns within me - a candle, one that is held securely, and nurtured as it provides the guiding light to this great question:

Where to next?

Here, as I rest, full from the summer's great adventures!

Here, as I heal and learn from the stress of the latest great efforts!

What have I learned from these latest quests?

How have I transformed through the latest trials?

What is here, now, ready to be received as I step into the next chapter?

-

Today, I invite you to share this space with me:

Of rest;

Of reflection;

Of nourishment;

Of a deepening into the great question:

What comes next?

Not to worry - you don't need to grasp for clear answers. They will come, in time, as you deepen into this space.

Allow this process to flow naturally as we move through these last weeks of summer, through into the harvest and the great turning over that is the autumn season.

Let go of the grasping. Let go of the need to have all the answers now.

I have my own answers that I am getting ready to share with you - answers that speak to changes here at Upward Slopes as I emerge from these weeks of deep reflection following the big adventures of the season!

For now, I invite you to turn inward. Into self: your own, human self.

What is here to sit with?

What is here to deepen into?

What is your guiding light pointing you towards as you sit in stillness, creating space for the next chapter?

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​Read the latest piece: Let us sit around the fire.​