The more I’ve leaned into a healing vocation, the more I see that wellness is a remembering that we, too, are nature.

Today is the first day of school for most of the children of New York City. There is something so palpably magical and hopeful about this fresh start—albeit mixed in with a dose of trepidation.

This week we arrive at the Winter Solstice, the day when our Northern Hemisphere tilts as far away as possible from the sun. Also called Midwinter, this is the shortest day and the longest night of the year for those of us in the north.

Here in the northeast, the leaves have begun to change color and fall gracefully toward Mother Earth. While this beautiful and age-old phenomenon appears, on the surface, to be a passive detachment, it actually involves intentional actions from the tree, including the release of certain hormones causing each leaf to separate from its branch.

When times feel heavy

Remember that you are not Atlas

Made to hold the heavens upon your shoulders.

We are nature. And the autumn season reminds us that we, too, need to periodically shed things that we’ve outgrown. Be it a job, a living space, a habit, or a relationship…

I’ve always loved inflection points. Those moments when we can shift into something new—perhaps quietly transforming into an elevated state that’s been waiting to emerge.