Embracing transitions

What a difference a few weeks make. I returned to capture the bare-branch beauty of the Japanese maple after its Autumn show only to discover the tree holding on to some of its leaves. The sight was a visual reminder of transition. Not ‘photo worthy’ beauty, but still, in process of a new cycle that needs to be acknowledged, not dismissed.

Many may pass by the late fall garden but maybe it helps process our own transitions.

William Bridges writes in Managing Transitions, “Because transition is a process by which people unplug from an old world and plug into a new world, we can say that transition starts with an ending and finishes with a beginning.”

Bridges continues: “Once you understand that transition begins with letting go of something, you have taken the first step. The second step is understanding what comes after the letting go: the neutral zone. This is the psychological no-man’s-land between the old reality and the new one. It is the limbo between the old sense of identity and the new. It is the time when the old way of doing things is gone but the new way doesn’t feel comfortable yet.“

The late fall garden tells a good story of transitions. Just like the Japanese Maple still holding on to its past. In time the dry leaves will fall. In time spring will arrive.

Late fall gardens have their own surprises. During this visit, I noticed the red blooms on the camellia. Upon closer inspection, was another yet another surprise. The person who designed this garden planted seeds of wonder for every season and also for the phases of transition.