To Catch a Falling Leaf

Last week, I caught a falling leaf. My grandfather taught me to do it when I was little and, ever since, I catch leaves every autumn. He passed away last year, but catching leaves still makes me feel close to him. 

In this season of letting go, dying, and quieting, I encourage you all to listen: What within you is ready to deeply surrender; and, in the space it leaves, offer the opportunity of new freedom? The Buddha taught that attachment creates suffering because nothing of this world is meant to last–– ashes to ashes, dust to dust. When we let go, we are releasing the tension within us that coincides with our attachment to form. But we are not letting go of love. Rather, we are making room for it.

As humans, we tend to project the source of our happiness (love) onto externals. But when we muster the courage to let go of our attachment to the external, which will inevitably fade away, we allow for the discovery that the experience of happiness and love occurs in and arises from Within.

From the great wellspring of the Heart arises all the qualities intrinsic to Wholeness: Courage, Acceptance, Forgiveness, Faith, Emptiness (of attachment to form/content), Wisdom (revealed from Within), Non-Judgment, and Love.

So this month, catch a falling leaf and embrace the peace that comes from the freedom of letting go.

Here's a poem I wrote for my grandfather, Papa Mike, in what wound up being his final leaf-catching season.

To Catch a Falling Leaf

You have to be very young

to catch a falling leaf.

Papa still does it,

and he’s only 90.

The old folks watching

with quizzical looks or even a frown

are all missing out.

They don’t know the art

of being a lunatic,

arms in the air flailing about!

How could they know

how special it is

when, finally, aha!

joy has fallen in your hands.

 Success can take the shape

of one of those things on the tree

descending to meet you

like a new friend

You don’t get much choice

in the leaf that you snag,

but that’s hardly the point.

You’re not looking for

A brown one, a red one

Maple or oak––

all that matters is that

it

is

falling

down

and you are waiting

with open arms!

You have to be strong

to catch a falling leaf

or the breeze might rip it

right from your grasp!

So be decisive! Be quick!

And let the light fill your eyes

As you hold your breath

Waiting

To catch a falling leaf.

In honor of Papa Mike, my champion in the art of finding joy in nature.