Seasons

Nature goes through seasonal cycles.

Spring brings new growth and restored energy. Summer is bursting with warmth and a bountifulness of new life. Fall allows the summer work to enter its final stage of harvesting with a beauty of its own. Winter comes and brings with it a time of cutting back and going down deep to rest, so that when Spring comes around, Nature is refreshed and ready.

Do you think, as an adult, our lives are in balance when we follow this same kind of pattern?

I was reflecting on my past 10 years and it occurred to me that I was constantly in a state of Summer/Fall. I felt as though I needed to be working and harvesting at all times.

With the exception of this past year, it had been 9 years of Summer/Fall. I became exhausted, physically, and depleted, mentally, of anything my body and soul needed in order to grow.

My life was striving but not necessarily thriving.

The picture that comes to my mind is a plant that has those long, gangly stems that are trying to reach out to find sun. It has some growth on the stems but sparse. Instead of being a full and flourishing plant, it is just doing all it can to survive.

For 9 years, there was no Winter.

No time to settle down and prune back.

No time for stillness.

Just a constant push.

The consequence to this was that without a Winter, there was never a Spring. Never a feeling of rejuvenation – new knowledge, new growth, new freshness – like the smell of cut grass.

Throughout the past year, I have learned that my life needs seasons. Times to burst forward and work the feverish passion, and times to settle in and reflect, regroup and recharge.

I need to allow healing and stillness to happen in order to bring new passion to my purpose.

This way, when Spring comes back around, I can move forward with beauty and grace.

I am now in Winter and learning to embrace it while eagerly anticipating Spring!

<>< KC