Issue #138 | October 2, 2026 | Previous issues​

Hey Reader,

The leaves are changing.

Summer is gone. Sigh. Where did it go? 😭

Autumn is my second favorite season. And like summer, if you blink, it disappears.

Don't blink!

Seems like logical advice, right?

Keep your eyes pasted wide open as you're hurled through life so you don't miss anything 👀.

Nah.

That's not for me.

I prefer long, slow blinks where I catch sunlight with the tips of my eyelashes and see iridescent colors in my squint.

I never used to understand living Slowly. Deliberately. Intentionally. Wholeheartedly.

I've been one to rush from thing to thing. To be trapped in duty and responsibility. To make sure every obligation box is checked before I can have any fun.

I've been too busy to think or feel or listen to the inner person.

This was the life handed down to us as normal and necessary.

Well, if you've been reading me long enough, you know I enjoy playing the little rebel.

Not for rebelliousness' sake, but for the sake of truth, understanding, growth, and feeling alive.

Most of us walk around like we're already dead.

I heard this quote once and have meditated on it ever since.

It's hard-hitting but I love it.

I love wake-up calls.

So many of us just let life pass us by, like we have no choice but to forge on.

Well, forge on!

But for goodness' sake, put a little skip to your step.

If you need a little caffeine and sugar to get you going, so be it.

But don't just make coffee (boring). Spend an extra 5 minutes smelling it deeply. Notice its color. How would you describe it? You don't need to be a poet to be creative with language.

Do you see the same people every week?

Take the same route every day?

Do you keep avoiding that uncomfortable conversation, person, place, or thing instead of facing it head on?

What is it that makes you feel alive?

Walking on a stormy beach.

Watching the moon rise over the ocean.

Taking a stroll through nature and paying attention to what you see and smell.

Eating your croissant flake by flake instead of wolfing it down.

How about being temporarily unavailable to anyone else but your inner person? To recharge your soul.

What do you do to slow time?

Theoretically we can't slow time down.

But if you've ever gotten lost in music, journaling, artwork, cooking, dancing, or whatever you get lost in, then you know that time can FEEL slower.

If you've never experienced this, it's a great time to try it.

Life is demanding. Sad. Full of suffering and sorrow.

One small antidote to that is to slow down enough for you to enjoy the moment that you are in.

So pick one small moment to enjoy (or many small ones).

This is a good season for that.

Don't just let Autumn pass you by.

Many of the trees (in New York) are changing. They're getting ready to sleep for winter. Their leaves are spectacularly dying with style and then the trees shed them to regrow new leaves next year.

What a process!

How does a tree know when to let go?

Even scientists don't fully understand the life of trees.

But it delights us. Autumn is a whole tourist movement in the Northeast.

Don't just say how pretty the leaves are as you drive past them in the car.

Get out and stare at them. Touch them. Sit on a park bench, bundle up if it's cold, and stare at an Autumn tree in total awe and with deep curiosity.

Draw it if you like. Write about it. Paint if you prefer.

Not for perfection.

But to make time for living and not just surviving.

This is one way we draw close to our Creator (and feel his love too).

With love,

Anna

P.S. What’s one small thing you refuse to rush through? Hit reply and tell me.

Mine might be that croissant and hot chocolate at Anna et Pierre - Le Café. Flake by flake. 😉

​aferalhousewife.com​