Welcome back to our seasonal writing challenge—Fall edition! Join me for eight weeks of bite-sized journaling prompts geared towards introspection and self-reflection.
I have to confess something. I was supposed to start this at the beginning of September, but I got confused by my own system, and took two months off instead of just one. Luckily, Fall officially started only a couple weeks ago, so we aren’t too far behind.
But even though it’s Fall, it still feels like Summer. Perhaps it’s because the temperatures have been 10 degrees above the average daily high. My body is confused by this heat and wonders if despite the calendar, it is in fact still September.
I spent September eating prickly pear fruits. We had an abundance this year—matching the abundance of cactus flowers earlier in the spring. I tried to eat at least one fruit a day, gently peeling off the bright pink skins as I walked. No matter how carefully I harvested them, the tiny hair-like spines always caught in my thumbs, plus a few lodged in my lips and tongue. The buzzing discomfort they left behind was a lingering reminder of the sweet flesh. Of the summer flush. Of the rain storms rolling through.
I am curious about this sense of the seasons. What part of us is quietly sensing the changes around us to understand the time of year we are in? The golden light in October is certainly spectacular, and this low angled sunshine passes through more layers of the earth’s atmosphere, making the sky look bluer. The light is softer, indirect, casting tasty shadows. The veil feels thin.
Perhaps it is our bodies’ reception of this change in the angle of the sun that fills us with fleeting feelings. The golden light upon the skin a reminder of how beautifully and quickly life passes by. Wasn’t it just May? And now there is snow on the highest peaks of the mountains.
If we are eating locally, the foods on offer at the farmer’s market start to shift with this seasonal change. Here in New Mexico we have an abundance of crisp apples, winter squash, and most iconic, the green chile harvest. These freshly picked peppers are roasted over fires, releasing a gorgeous spicy smell into the air. There is such a seasonal ritual for me in peeling the charred skin off a chile and eating it whole. I can feel the store of vitamin c from the summer’s growth infiltrate my cells, as I prepare for a season of hibernation.
To begin our 8 weeks of Fall writing prompts, we will start with an assessment of our summer. What we ate, how we felt, what we did well. As well as a few prompts to get us thinking about our intentions for the Fall season.
I am making this week’s prompts free, but starting next week they will only be available to subscribers.
I would love if you joined this special group of us who writes together weekly. Writing is a wonderful form of therapy, especially in a world as topsy turvy and terrifying as ours. If there is enough interest, I will also be happy to schedule a couple of zoom calls, so we can all meet and discuss our writing progress, and how the prompts are helping us to work through our feelings and revealing new insights.
If you would like to join but don’t feel financially resourced to do so, let me know and I will gift you a subscription. And if you have absolutely no use for writing prompts, but appreciate me and the work I do, you can sign up for a subscription or gift one to someone else. Your support means the world to me!
Here is this week’s writing prompt.
Try to find a quiet place where you can focus for 20 minutes. The point of this exercise is to write freely, without judgement, and see what comes out of your brain. You can answer each prompt question or start with the one that is most interesting and see where it takes you. Follow your mind, be present with the emotions coming up, and have fun. Try to keep writing for a full 15 minutes. It might sound like an intimidating amount of time, but I promise it will end up flying by. Just keep going!
What were some of your favorite food memories from this past summer?
What worked well and what needs improvement in your eating habits?
What are you noticing around you, and internally, as we shift into the fall season?
Close your eyes and imagine your ideal Fall. What are you eating? What activities are you doing? What are you wearing? How is your schedule different because of the change in light?
What are you envisioning and dreaming of for this upcoming season? What small ways can you bring more nourishment and intention into your daily routines?
If you had some good insights or surprises from this writing exercise, share them in the comments below!
If you would like access to these food writing prompts for the next eight weeks, or to support Feed Me Figs in general, you can upgrade to a paid subscription here.
If you don’t want to commit to a full year subscription, you can pay monthly for the price of an oatmilk matcha latte.
Also, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. If you think you would benefit from these prompts but can’t afford them at this time, email me at ginarae@substack.com, and I will gift you a subscription.
Lots of love,
Gina Rae
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