It’s human to experience ebb and flow in life.
We move through seasons of transition and uncertainty; we tilt between self-confidence and self-doubt; we experience shifting levels of energy or productivity and changes in what we need or want.
We witness death and new life.
Life is messy. And beautiful.
Living awake and seasonally allows us to live grateful for the gifts in every season. It means consciously and stubbornly mining for these gifts. Because there is wisdom knit into the fabric of every season. Into the light and the dark.
Seasonal living invites us to put down deep, strong roots of self-awareness and self-compassion that allow us to tilt and flex and not break when the storms come.
Slowing down and tuning into the season we’re in – both the natural and metaphorical season of life – can help us live gentler, calmer, slower and simpler lives. As we notice patterns and rhythms of mood, energy, creativity, introspection, or cravings, we learn to better tend to our needs and love ourselves with less judgment. We become more attuned to and less fearful or resentful of the ebb and flow of life.
We put down deeper, healthy roots of self-awareness and self-compassion that allow us to tilt and flex and not break when the storms come.
And we learn to mine for the achingly beautiful and sometimes heart-wrenchingly challenging gifts inherent in every season.
We’re not all wired the same way and there is more than one way to live a vibrant, full, meaningful life. But I’m clearly wired for a slower pace and find purpose, wholeness and joy in a simple and seasonal approach to life.
I am building a life – a full, beautiful, imperfect, messy life. I don’t want to live distracted or perpetually trying to “keep up” to anyone else. I want to savour the gifts of each day. I want to mine for the wisdom in every season. I want to live every day like it could be my last.
10 POSTS To help you honour your wiring and embrace a seasonal living approach to life
REMEMBER: Life is more cyclical than linear, about going deeper not wider, and there’s wisdom and beauty to be mined in every season, even the hardest of them. Loosen your grip, show up curious, and learn to honour your wiring (and the full truth of who and how you are) through a soul-sustaining practice of seasonal living.
Diversity is Beautiful: Which of These Best Describe You?
Diversity is beautiful and needed. When each of us honours our wiring and operates in our strengths we form a beautiful whole. Have fun with this short quiz and identify which of these 5 plants or fungi most feel like you! Read the post.
LIFE IS MESSY AND BEAUTIFUL: LIVING GRATEFUL FOR THE WISDOM IN EVERY SEASON
Mindful living means choosing to live grateful for the gifts in every season. It means consciously and stubbornly mining for these gifts. Read the full post here.
11 QUESTIONS TO END THE YEAR ON PURPOSE
Scary or not, change comes. We grow and heal and become. We learn to trust the journey, make small adjustments to our direction, and if we don’t quit we end up somewhere good. Maybe not where we expected, exactly. But good. Read the post.
FINALLY DECIDING YOU’RE GOOD ENOUGH CAN QUIETLY CHANGE THE WORLD
You do not have to bend and twist yourself to fit an arbitrary mold. You do not have to be smarter or prettier, less sensitive or more capable than you already are. I am gifted and I matter. And so do you. Read the full post.
9 “Bad Habits” I Think You Should Adopt for a Happy Life
For a happy life, you might need to push back against many of the ideals you’ve clung to for years. You might even choose to joyfully disregard much of the wisdom du jour. Read the full post here.
Slow Down and Lie on the Couch All Weekend
For happiness and a full beautiful life, it’s essential that we slow down and make space for purposeful rest. We can’t pour out what we don’t first pour in. Read the full post here.
What if All I Want is a Mediocre Life?
What if all I want is a small, slow, simple life? What if I am most happy in the space of in-between. Where calm lives. What if mediocre really is enough? Read the full post here.
On Building A Right-Sized Life: I Choose Simple Over Easy
Building a right-sized life means a made from scratch, handcrafted, customized life that is honest, authentic, and helps us walk out each day on purpose. Read the full post here.
When Slow Living Feels Busy and Stressful
Because we are human. Because people are messy. Because we still have to eat and sleep and live in community, even simple living can feel busy and stressful. Read the full post here.
OVERWHELMED BY LIFE? GIFT YOURSELF AN ABUNDANCE OF REST
In a culture that idolizes doing more, acquiring more, being more, and that conditions us to believe that our worth is tied to our level of productivity or achievement, it feels brave to make rest an integral and delightful part of our lifestyle and live vision. It can also feel deeply uncomfortable. Read the full post.
NOW WHAT? RESOURCES TO HELP YOU HONOUR YOUR WIRING + SUSTAINABLE LIFE
Take your next small step to honour your wiring and handcraft a purposeful, joyful, and sustainable life.
THE show up afraid workshop: A Seasonal Approach
Don’t wait for some perfect day when you no longer grapple with fear. Fear is simply a normal human emotion and you can learn to sit with fear as it arises without attaching to it, remind yourself of your strength, wisdom, and capacity to do hard things, and show up through fear, grief, stress, or struggle to what you want or need. You can keep living fully, joyfully, NOW – amid the messiness of life. You can show up afraid in every season. Learn about the Show Up Afraid Workshop.
52 MONDAYS: SEASONAL MINDFULNESS JOURNAL SERIES
The 52 Mondays series is an invitation to live seasonally and mindfully. It is a set of four seasonal mindfulness journals that invite you to attune to your inner landscape or the emotional season you’re in as you also lean into what’s happening in the natural world. Check out the journals.