Mindfulness gets a lot of press these days. 

Eat mindfully...

Meditate mindfully...

Live mindfully...

You get the picture. 

This Atlanta photographer is down with mindfulness. It's a good practice. And it's challenging. 

I try to practice mindfulness every day but fall is the perfect time of year for it. Why? Because a big part of mindfulness is staying in the present moment. 

Fall heralds winter, and I'm not a big fan of winter. I just don't like the cold. 

My parents were raised in Upstate New York - this makes them laugh. According to them, Georgia is not cold. But, I was born and raised in Southern California. So, yes, Georgia is cold! At least it is in the winter. 

It snows, am I right? Okay, okay, it pretends to snow now and then. 

But what's that got to do with fall and mindfulness? If I get busy thinking about the coming winter, I won't enjoy the fall as much. And fall around here is amazing.

So when I'm out photographing the fall colors, I stay as present as possible. 

I'm a little worried we won't get fall this year. We've had broiling summer temps all the way into October. It's cooling now but it feels like maybe we're going straight into winter. If that happens, we probably won't get the beautiful, multi-colored fall leaves on the trees. 

But, let's stay in the moment and not worry about things that may not even happen.  

But, I will take a little detour to the past and show you photos that I took a few years ago during an especially gorgeous fall sunrise. It was Thanksgiving morning. I spent the night at my sister's and my niece woke me up before sunrise. 

"Well," I said. "If you're going to wake me up this early, then you're going for a walk with me." She was delighted. 

My brother-in-law was up too. My sister was sleeping in. We grabbed the dog and the three of us went to the nearby hiking trail by the creek.

Describing light is hard. As the sun came up that Thanksgiving morning, the birds chirped and the sun rays filtered through the trees in a glorious display of colorful light. I could almost hear the angels singing. 

The clouds were pink and puffy. The trees were ablaze with the rising sun. It was hard distinguishing whether the gold and orange were light or leaves. It was breathtaking. 

That sunrise was a treat and my heart filled with gratitude. You know that kind of gratitude? The kind where you actually feel your heart swelling? That's another reason to practice mindfulness. It helps you feel gratitude more often. It's good for your heart. 

Thanksgiving is still seven weeks away, and I don't intend to rush it. I'll savor every day between now and the busy season. 

And as we usher out summer to the sound of leaves crunching under our feet, I hope you get a chance for some savoring too! And maybe we'll get a little much-needed rain. 

See you between the raindrops!

xoxo,
Susan

Need a fine-art print of a beautiful Georgia fall? Find one here.