The Colours of Passing

Autumn reminds us that change rarely arrives all at once. Green leaves slowly give way to yellow, brown, and red, while the light moves across the sky differently from one day to the next. What we see now may already look different a little later.

This card from the Urban Forest Bathing series invites you into a brief practice of noticing impermanence. You do not need a special place. A few minutes outside and a willingness to look without trying to hold the scene still are enough.

Mindfulness exercise: impermanence

Theme: Impermanence

Look at the colours around you. Notice how green leaves give way to yellow and brown, and how the sky changes shades as the day unfolds. The colours you see now will soon be different. Consider that impermanence does not always mean loss.

Reflection:

What is changing in my life, even as I try to hold on to it?
Can I find beauty in what is passing?

Stay with one change

Choose one part of the view: the crown of a tree, a shrub beside the path, a scatter of leaves on the pavement, or a piece of sky between buildings. Notice its colours and shapes without deciding too quickly whether they are good or bad. Look at what remains, and at what is quietly changing.

You might return to the same place later in the day or after a few days. The point is not to capture a perfect image. Notice that each time you look, you meet a slightly different moment.

Impermanence is not only loss

It is easy to feel that change takes something away. Autumn colours also show another side of passing: they reveal shapes that were hidden before, bring new light, and make room for what comes next.

What ends can still be important and beautiful precisely because it does not last forever. You do not have to pretend that every change is easy. You can acknowledge its difficulty and still ask whether there is something within it worth noticing.

A small practice for this week

During a walk, pause where you can see several different autumn colours.

Try to:

name three colours you can see nearby,
notice one colour that looks different from a few days ago,
watch how the shade of the sky changes with the light,
let one scene be beautiful without taking a photograph,
name one thing in your life that is currently changing.

You do not need to know immediately what the change means. The willingness to notice it for a moment may already create a little more space.

Week 42 card: The Colours of Passing

This card may be supportive when you are trying to hold on to something that is naturally moving into another stage.

Let the colours of autumn remind you that passing is not always the end of something valuable. Sometimes it is a movement that reveals new shades, different light, and a beauty that exists precisely because the moment does not stay the same.

See this week’s card

This post is part of the Urban Forest Bathing series — 52 simple mindfulness practices inspired by nature, the seasons, and everyday contact with green spaces. You can find the full series here: Urban Forest Bathing.