The autumn season is often a time for harvests. Autumn leaves take on an array of colors and hues, and grapes, pumpkins and other fruits and vegetables become ripe and ready to pick from the fields. Many gardeners also see the Fall season as a time to prune plants back so that they're ready for new levels of growth and health in coming seasons. As always, Nature is an adept teacher.

So, too, can our thoughts turn to other areas of our lives that may be "harvest ready" or "harvest friendly." We can take a few minutes to observe and appreciate the abundance and plenty in the cornucopia of our own lives. We might notice the seeds we planted some time ago that are showing signs of growth or ripening, or we might notice the things that are ready for harvesting or in need of weeding, planting or pruning.

Brain-tingler questions

• What ten "harvests" (scenarios, serendipities, gifts, ideas, opportunities, relationships, situations, epiphanies, etc.) have occurred during the past year for which you're grateful? These things can be large or small, visible or nearly imperceptible, but they'd make your list if you were counting your blessings. So, what are they? Can you list more than ten?

• What "seeds" have you planted over the past year, whether literal or metaphorical, in the garden that is your life? Which seeds are still under soil, collecting the strength to sprout to the surface? Which seeds have started to sprout and require your nurturing for continued growth? Which seeds are growing nicely into new relationships, connections, eras of evolution, enterprises, endeavors, levels of awareness, or opportunities?

• Looking at your life's garden as it is right now, without any judgements of "good" or "bad", what needs weeding? What needs to be pruned? What requires some additional fertilizer, and what has ripened and is calling out for you to recognize and whole-heartedly enjoy it?

• Thinking ahead to the coming seasons, what seeds would you like to plant for harvest in three months? Six months? One year?

Seeing our lives as gardens is a very practical and realistic exercise. Since we're part of nature, we can see that everything ebbs and flows in cycles. By acknowledging our life-garden, we can appreciate that "for everything there is a season" and embrace and appreciate each and every seed and sprout for what it is, in its proper time and place. We can, with gratitude, let go of what is ebbing, because we know that new seeds will sprout, and new sprouts will come to maturity and bring us new harvests.

Want more practical tips? Stop by the Brain Food Cafeteria

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