How to Pay Attention This Week

Breathe in and out....what do you notice?

For a brief and beautiful week or so in the north in spring and autumn, we have these moments where we begin a week not able to see the steam rise from the waters around us or our breath being made visible to then being able to see it. Everything with one cold or warm front (depending on the time of year) will shift this.

This morning, I knew it was the morning. When the headlights turned on the car, and we headed down the hill from our home, I saw the crisped edges on the sumac, wild grasses, goldenrod, and Queen Anne’s lace. As I drove into town for our morning commute to school, I saw the heavy frost on roofs and fields around us. We are somehow spared for a bit because of being slightly higher than these places, but I knew the inland lakes would rise with fog.

Walking my kids to class, my breath was visible, and it oddly reminded me that you are alive and breathing just like everything else.

So this week, we are paying attention to the rising fog on water and how our breathing becomes visible.

Below, you will find a guide to what, how, and why to pay attention to this week of Autumn.