Seeing yellow leaves float to earth, I feel within myself a soft letting go. I take a deep breath, and a few next steps.

I recall this wisdom of Thomas Merton: “We must begin by frankly admitting that the first place in which to go looking for the world is not outside us but in ourselves. We are the world. In the deepest ground of our being we remain in metaphysical contact with the whole of that creation in which we are only small parts."

My feet feel easy on the path. It is so astonishing to be here, to be part of the cosmos living, breathing, unfolding.