4 Birth Months Being Blessed By The Northern Lights This Autumn

The northern lights could brighten parts of the northern U.S. through September 17, a reminder that even familiar skies can surprise us. Let that sense of possibility inspire these four symbolic birth-month blessings for autumn.

January: The Blessing Of Being Amazed

You can turn a free evening into a list of things you ought to have finished. There’s the drawer to sort, the message to answer, the entire future to organize before bedtime. January, the northern lights offer your busy mind something it cannot put to work. Imagine standing beneath those luminous curtains with absolutely no idea what shape they’ll take next. For once, you get to be delighted without being in charge. Carry that feeling into your autumn by leaving an evening open long enough for something lovely to happen. Linger outside when the air feels good. Follow a conversation past the point where you’d usually check the time. Your blessing is the delicious discovery that a few unplanned hours can become the part of your week you treasure most.

March: The Blessing Of A Returning Spark

Those wild folds of light have something in common with your imagination: they refuse to sit still and look sensible. March, perhaps you’ve been missing the version of yourself who could spend an afternoon making something simply because the idea wouldn’t leave you alone. This autumn, give that part of yourself somewhere to play. Pull out the sketchbook with the embarrassing first pages still inside it. There may be a color you want to try, a strange little shape you keep drawing, a whole mood you can’t explain until you’ve put it on paper. Let the aurora be your inspiration. Your blessing is that first absorbing hour when your curiosity gets so loud you forget to ask whether you’re any good.

September: The Blessing Of Feeling Cherished

Picture the person who sends you a photograph of the northern lights because they knew you’d love it. Somewhere in the middle of their own evening, they thought of you. September, pay attention to the affection tucked inside gestures like that, especially during your birthday season. You may be so accustomed to remembering everyone else’s little preferences that you barely pause when someone remembers yours.

Let yourself enjoy being known. Tell a friend what would make your birthday feel special, and give them room to delight you. If someone wants to spend an autumn evening looking at the sky with you, you can arrive without becoming the organizer of everybody’s good time. There is a particular sweetness in realizing that someone wanted your company before you offered to do a single thing for them.

November: The Blessing Of Looking Forward Again

When you’ve been disappointed, it can feel easier to decide you already know how the rest of the year will go. Keep your expectations modest. Stick to familiar places. Leave very little room for surprise. But a sky that can ripple with light is a beautiful image to hold beside that settled picture of your future. November, let your blessing this autumn be a question you actually want answered. What would happen if you visited that place you keep saving photographs of? Begin finding out. Choose a day, look at the route, imagine yourself there with the wind messing up your hair. Give yourself something to anticipate. There are still experiences ahead that you’ll be ridiculously glad you didn’t talk yourself out of having.