What's Up with Fall?

What's up with Fall?  Energy, that's what - invigorating, stimulating, agitating energy.  I used to think Fall was just Fall. Maybe it felt different - that headlong rush toward the end of the year and the holidays that always seem like they should be fun (and often are), but which are often stressful as well.  

It's a time of much transition, but I didn't think more of it. Growing up, fall was always back to school, and my birthday, and Halloween, and then Thanksgiving.  Then it was on to winter, and Christmas and New Years.  No wonder things were hectic.

But if Fall is inherently a time of transition and agitating energy, how does that affect my life?  I find it is harder to keep my focus, to find calmness and stability.  My mind bursts with things that must be done, leaping ahead to one thought without finishing the one before, building up the anxiety of so much to do, and so little time.

How can I stay grounded, keep to the calm waters, while everything around is trying to pull me into the rapids and over the falls?  To start, I give priority to meditation, particularly first thing in the morning, to set a solid foundation for the day.  I recognize the signs of stress and chaos in the mind - not as a normal, acceptable state - but as a state of dis-ease that needs attention.  

One of the most powerful techniques, in response to mental scatter concerned with a whole day's (or week's - or month's) worth of tasks as if they all need attention at once - is to bring myself back to one thing.  I focus on just one thing, and set to do it with my full attention.  Even with simple things - things that we so often try to "multi-task," like making coffee, feeding the cats, putting clean dishes away - bringing my mind back to my breath and completing the task with full attention does wonders for me.  It settles down my mind and brings me toward that state of flow, where I'm doing things without second guessing myself, and without worrying about other things that need to be done - and will be done when the time is right - but for which investing my mind now is simply pointless.