I don’t know how it is where You are, but here in the eastern townships of Canada Autumn definitely is here. We recognize it by the cold nights, crispy air and magical colors lighting up the trees as if they are on fire.

I’ve always liked autumn. For me autumn is linked to “new starts” of different things. As long as I was in school it was the start of a new semester, a new subject or even a new school.

Still autumn has that effect on me. I feel inspired to start up, to create and maybe start something new.

This year we have to enter the autumn season with the company of a pandemic. We can look back at seven months of the presence of Covid-19.

Yes, “we are in this together” in one way, because it is spread all around the world at the same time. And still we are not. It has become so clear during the pandemic that we are all differently equipped to deal with a crisis like this.

Gabor Maté writes more about this in the article;

https://www.psychotherapynetworker.org/magazine/article/2489/when-the-world-wont-hold-us/212e4cc7-ac6a-444f-8c3f-bf1de0d0defd/OIM

And something else that is very interesting, we seem to grow in capacity while going through difficult challenges. I remember hearing “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, for as long as I’ve lived, and I always felt it sounded so harsh and hard. Because I linked strong with hardness, coldness and lack of emotions! Today I read differently into what strong means, and I see strong as a growth in capacity to be with.

I find it helpful to understand how we develop resilience and how our start in life has an impact on how we learn skills to manage life, and also how we can move forward, feel safer and grow our trust, even if we didn’t have the support we needed as children.

NY Times recently had a great article about this;

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/health/resilience-relationships-trauma.html?smid=fb-share

As well as it is good to read and learn what works for others, remember that it is only what works for You that will make the difference. Feed the things that is already working for You. If it is a walk in the forest, a chat with a friend, a bath, a movie evening … anything that supports your feeling of comfort, of trust, of belonging. One step at a time.

With gratitude,

Helena