With the transition from summer to fall comes a very distinct feeling of pleasant anticipation for the season ahead.  Perhaps it is because human beings, regardless of how digital we become, are still programmed with that instinctual, primal knowledge of seasonal shift.  Around late summer into the early fall not only does our body clock begin to change, but also our metabolism alters and our insulin resistance increases.  Evolution has managed to preserve this cyclical trait in all vertebrates, including me and you.  Of course, we don't stockpile walnuts in the plumbego pots like the squirrels in my backyard.  Rather, our brains just signal to us that it is time to eat more, move more slowly, and put on more weight for the lean winter months.

It is hard to believe that even a short century and a half ago this actually might have come in handy in agrarian, pre-Industrial Revolution Tennessee.  Although these shifts tend to be less obvious given our society now, really listen to your body as it moves into that hibernation mode.  Use this new and different energy to reflect on what you have learned the past year and how you want to direct your next year.  Your next season.  Let your ideas and reflections incubate and mature.  Dwell on them.  And as you begin to hunker down for November and December, and all the extra noise that comes with them, enjoy these few weeks.  Enjoy the time to prepare, for winter is around the corner.