An Invitation to Notice: Mindfully Meeting the Transition to Fall

September 24, 2026
By: Dr. Isabel Sadowski, Clinical Psychologist

There is a particular moment near the end of summer when the change becomes hard to miss. The light begins to soften. Evenings arrive a little earlier. A coolness slips into the morning air. At the same time, calendars fill up, school begins again, traffic thickens, and the slower rhythm of summer gives way to packed lunches, meetings, activities, and unfinished to-do lists.

We may experience this shift in very different ways. For some, fall brings energy, structure, and the comfort of familiar routines. For others, it carries a sense of loss, pressure, or apprehension about the darker and colder months ahead. Often, it is a mixture of both.

Yet when life becomes busier, we can move through the transition without fully noticing that it is happening. Our attention jumps ahead to the next task while our bodies and emotions quietly work to adjust. Mindfulness offers another possibility: pausing long enough to notice what is changing around us and what is changing within us.

Mindfulness is not about feeling calm all the time

Mindfulness is often associated with relaxation, but its purpose is not to manufacture a particular feeling. It is the practice of paying attention to our present-moment experience with curiosity and less judgment. This kind of awareness can help us recognize our internal experience before we become completely swept up in it. It also allows us to attend to what we are experiencing in our external environment, whether that be through our relationships with others, or with our surroundings.

These experiences are supported by research suggesting that mindfulness training can support attentional control and emotion regulation, while acceptance (that is: allowing thoughts and feelings to be present without immediately trying to eliminate them) may be an important part of these benefits (Khoury et al., 2025; Lindsay & Creswell, 2019; Prakash et al., 2017).

In other words, noticing does not make every difficult feeling disappear. It can, however, give us a little more room to respond thoughtfully rather than operating entirely on autopilot.

Let the season bring you back to your senses

Fall offers countless natural reminders to pay attention. We do not need to travel to a forest or set aside an hour to connect with our surroundings. A tree outside the office, a patch of sky between buildings, or the walk from the bus stop can become part of the practice.

This connection is more than decorative. Studies have found a small but meaningful association between feeling connected to nature and well-being, including positive affect, vitality, and life satisfaction (Capaldi et al., 2014; Pritchard et al., 2020). In my own research with university students, greater connection with nature was associated with more frequent positive emotions, less frequent negative emotions, and greater satisfaction with life. Two aspects of mindfulness helped explain these relationships: observing our inner and outer experiences and allowing experiences to arise without reacting automatically (Sadowski et al., 2022). These findings suggest that how we attend and respond to our experience may be one way that feeling connected to nature relates to well-being.

So how can these reflections be put into action? The next time you step outside (or pause near a window) try this brief seasonal check-in practice:

1. Notice outward. Let your attention settle on your surroundings. What can you see, hear, smell, or feel? Look for one detail that tells you the season is changing. There is no need to label it as pleasant or unpleasant; simply notice it.
2. Notice inward. Gently turn your attention toward your body and emotions. What sensations are present? What mood, feeling, or thought do you notice? You might silently name it: anticipation is here, I am feeling stretched thin, or part of me is sad to see summer end.
3. Choose one supportive response. Ask yourself: Given what I am noticing, what would support me today? The answer may be taking three slower breaths, stepping outside at lunch, protecting an evening from extra commitments, reaching out to someone, or simply acknowledging that transitions require energy.

Nature does not move from summer to fall all at once. The transition happens gradually: one cooler morning, one earlier sunset, one changed leaf at a time. We, too, may need time to adjust our expectations, routines, and pace.

references

Capaldi, C. A., Dopko, R. L., & Zelenski, J. M. (2014). The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article 976. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00976

Khoury, B., Lesage, M.,   Kasprzyk, A., Sadowski, I., Manova, V., Benchimol-Elkaim, B., Dias Martins, C., Rigas, C., & Rej, S. (2025). Embodied and Embedded Mindfulness and Compassion Framework. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-025-02561-4

Lindsay, E. K., & Creswell, J. D. (2019). Mindfulness, acceptance, and emotion regulation: Perspectives from Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT). Current Opinion in Psychology, 28, 120–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.12.004

Prakash, R. S., Whitmoyer, P., Aldao, A., & Schirda, B. (2017). Mindfulness and emotion regulation in older and young adults. Aging & Mental Health, 21(1), 77–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2015.1100158

Pritchard, A., Richardson, M., Sheffield, D., & McEwan, K. (2020). The relationship between nature connectedness and eudaimonic well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21, 1145–1167. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00118-6

Sadowski, I., Böke, N., Mettler, J., Heath, N., & Khoury, B. (2022). Naturally mindful? The role of mindfulness facets in the relationship between nature relatedness and subjective well-being. Current Psychology, 41(8), 5358–5373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01056-w