Greetings All --

Since my September was so packed with activity, including an intensive week-long writing workshop in New England, my monthly newsletter got away from me. So I'm combining it with October and bringing you this snazzy Fall edition.

It's such a natural time of year for change! Drop me a line and let's set up a life coaching consultation. We'll create your goals and then work together to effect real change. Click here for contact info.

Scroll down for this month's message.

Over a year ago, a sweet friend gave me a snippet of a tree she has in her living room. She presented it to me in a paper cup filled with water so its roots would stay nicely nourished. It remained in there for weeks until I finally went out and bought some potting soil and one of those plastic pots that looks like clay.

Now here's my true confession. I never believed in my ability to actually keep a plant (or tree!) alive. Hence, the "fake" clay pot. Yet I felt there was clearly a shift taking place within me. I gave the tree a place of prominence in my kitchen. I watered it diligently and trimmed the leaves where needed. I didn't hover, but I was attentive.

A few months later, a couple that lives in my building gave me an ivy plant in a quaint wicker basket. It, too, was a piece snipped from their own thriving plant. They had no way of knowing what an act of faith this was! It has been thriving on my bedroom window sill among candles and other treasures for nearly a year.

I share all of this because this week I noticed that the tree has outgrown its fake clay pot. It was like a rite of passage for me to select a real one and give my tree a sturdy and spacious home in which to flourish. It can spread out and thrive and become what it's supposed to be in this new, palpably fresh environment.

I am not nearly the first and surely won't be the last person to draw the metaphor of a tree's growth to human development. But I am awed by the parallels nonetheless. How apt that my life was feeling crowded and that I have taken steps to uncrowd it. How fascinating to see one's own life stages mirrored back from a juicy green plant.

How exhilarating for the plant and me to feel all roomy and at home.

COOL THINGS MY FRIENDS ARE DOING:

Author Lisa Robyn's book, The Corporate Dominatrix, and Web site give an interesting twist to Boss' Day (October 16) -- take the quiz to find out your Mistress Archetype (mine is Queen!): http://www.thecorporatedominatrix.com/training-quiz.php...

Singer/song writer/artist Mary Ann Farley will bring her special brand of pizazz to Highball! With Mary Ann Farley at the Symposia Bookstore in Hoboken on October 19. See her site for details: www.maryannfarley.com