The Elements
When my children were young, I would recite this verse: “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we all should be as happy as kings.”
The thing is the world is full of the same things we are! Consider the elements: fire, water, earth, and air. They are composed of the chemicals and minerals in the world and in us, in different proportions depending on our temperaments and season of life.
Seasons of the year and of human life each correlate predominately with one of the elements. Can you imagine the connection between spring and water (rain and mud), summer and fire (sunshine), fall and air (leaves blowing), winter and earth (quiet and deep)?
We become familiar with the seasons in nature as they present annually. The seasons of a human life are about twenty-five to thirty years long; we experience them only once in a lifetime, yet we bring with us what we gained from one season into the next. They are: childhood, young adulthood, middle age, and elder years.
The young child is in the water-y phase like springtime, with their runny noses, teary eyes, soggy pants, and knack for finding puddles and spilling cups of water. They are full of life, growing rapidly like sprouts in springtime, fresh and green.
The young adult has qualities of summer – fire, passion, and ambition. That’s what it takes to go out into the world and create a life! Not yet seasoned by experience, the young adult brings energy, enthusiasm, and interest to trying out things, discovering and charting an individual life’s path.
Middle age is the season of autumn , harvest time and the element of air. It is late adulthood when we might expand into the world, exploring new things in the outer as well as in our inner worlds. Our interests may widen and we may become more light-hearted and flexible, even forgetful. When we are more flexible, like the tree that bends in the wind so as not to break, we fare better. We know how to weather the winds of change. The second half of this phase is a time of slowly turning inward like late autumn where we become the wise elders but not yet in the winter of our lives.
Lastly, the elderly years are like winter and the element of earth. That’s when we become deep and reflective, considering what we have done and what we still need to do. The bulk of life’s heavy-lifting is done, we slow down,. Our days become quieter and more predictable; we are more sedentary or earth-bound. Our physical bodies may ask for attention and toward the end of our lives, lots of sleep. Coming full circle.
I am currently in the second half of middle age or late adulthood – the harvest time of life. My husband and I live in an open, light-filled and airy home. We have let go of many material objects, retaining only what is necessary. The habits of life we adopted earlier keep us grounded. Without them, we would surely become scattered.
Collecting and Reflecting
Looking back on earlier seasons of life, I see each season brought out in me what was necessary, mentoring me in its purpose and preparing me for the next one. The seasons of life overlap and build on each other. We bring with us what we learn from each season, allowing us to become more balanced or seasoned as we age.
During the first half of middle age, I took a trip with friends and wrote a book about my experience (Unpacking Guilt: A Mother’s Journey to Freedom). It was the first memoir I wrote, but I published two books before it. Now in the second half of adulthood, in my senior years, I published a fourth book, Where Wisdom Meets Wonder, Forty Stories of Grandma Love celebrating this time of life.
In young adulthood or the summer of my life, I embraced the world with passion and fire, experiencing many different things before finding my life’s work, my life’s partner, home and family.
In early childhood or the springtime of my life, I remember the quality of water, of being carried or flowing within family and community life, unconscious of all that goes on within the adult realm. I experienced rough waters at times and in the process, learned how to negotiate them.
At this time of life, I have few regrets. What I am harvesting now is a result of what I put out into the world, the seeds I have sown. I have lived a full life and fully appreciate what life is offering me now. Both my husband and I are blessed with good health, loving family, and meaningful work.
The last three years, entering the second half of the autumn years has been a bit of a whirlwind, but we are settling in, reaping what we have sown, and preparing for the season to come. We are appreciating the simple things: good food, friends, family, and time in nature. Less is more.
Today, while I sit in my backyard writing, I see the autumn sun peeking through the big curly willow tree. The sky is blue, the plants have been harvested or are drying on the stems, even though the ground is moist. The elements of fire, air, earth, and water surround me.
The yard looks different than it did a month ago when the sun was still high in the sky and the wind was not yet blowing crumpled leaves about the yard. Although it is warm today, the breeze has a chill in it.
I wear layers of clothing, so I am prepared for temperature fluctuations throughout the day.
Observing nature, I see a reflection of myself. Accepting nature, I accept myself.
Looking back on the seasons of life brings context to my life’s experiences.
Today I am grateful for nature, my place in it, and harvest time.
What season of life are you in? What is it teaching you?
A Final Note: I have learned what I know through a combination of studying knowledge practices (anthroposophy and ayurveda for example), observation, and personal experience. What I offer in my essays, is a combination of all three. I suggest you do the same. Read. Reflect. Conduct your own experiments. Then decide what you know to be true.
