Fall is a Time to Reap What You’ve Sown

From the Meredith Mediates blog by Meredith Richardson

Fall is in the air. The nights are cooler and longer. The apples at local farms are almost ready to be picked.

While the weather still supports a lot of outdoor activities, with nightfall coming sooner, and with children back in school, it seems that your evenings are more likely to be spent at home these days.

If you’ve been taking care of yourself and your relationships, then spending time at home with your loved ones may be quite pleasant.

And if you haven’t, then you may find yourself feeling a little trapped in the evenings, wishing for the escape that summer brings.

Or perhaps you live alone and you’re feeling a little lonely and wish that you had someone around in the evenings.

Fall is a time to reap what you’ve sown.

What have you sown over the course of the year? Seeds of discontent? Seeds of gratitude? Have you nurtured your relationships, your loved ones? Have you tended to the needs of others as well as those your own? Have you communicated effectively? Have you treated others the way that you want to be treated? Have you sought out relationships with people who treat you well?

In relationships, as in gardening, what you intended is not always what you get. Plants can suffer from blight, pests, drought, flood, etc. You can put in a lot of work and still have your efforts destroyed by circumstances beyond your control. In the alternative, with the right conditions, you can get a high yield with little effort on your part. Most of the time, however, there is a direct correllation between the work you put in and the benefit you receive.

Take a look at your relationships. Are they working for you? What have you sown? What are you reaping?

                       

Meredith Richardson

Meredith Richardson, Esq., CPC, helps people and organizations to successfully navigate conflict through mediation, conflict coaching, and training.  Though she was trained and worked as an attorney in ME, NH, and MA, she no longer self-identifies as a lawyer.  She helps people to have difficult conversations successfully. Meredith is well-respected… MORE >