It’s human to experience ebb and flow in life and you can learn to honour your wiring in every season. Even the hardest of them.
You’ll move through seasons of transition and uncertainty; you will tilt between self-confidence and self-doubt; you’ll experience shifting levels of energy or productivity and changes in what you need or want. You will witness death and new life.
Life is messy. And beautiful.
Seasonal living is a way of being and engaging with the world that helps us make peace with the messiness and impermanence of life. It helps us mine for the beauty and wisdom in every season. Even the hardest of them.
It is not itself the goal but a practice or tool that helps us learn to (and gives us permission to) honour our unique wiring, own our strength and struggle, and recognize that we are all in progress. In doing so, we are more likely to show up to life with compassion, curiosity, and agency.
honour your wiring and mine for the beauty and wisdom in every season
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 seasonal living
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 through a practice of mindful and Seasonal Living.
MINDFULNESS WILL MAKE YOU HAPPIER: SIMPLE WAYS TO PRACTICE MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness helps us pull our minds and hearts back from tomorrow and yesterday so that we can enjoy the gifts of today – and not run from the painful parts. It equips us to mine for the beauty and wisdom in every season. Read the full post here.
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.
SEASONS OF TRANSITION ARE IMPORTANT AND REQUIRE AMPLE REST
Seasons of transition are important (and often feel challenging) and how we navigate them impacts how we show up to what’s next. Take your time, and listen to what you most need so that you show up whole, brave, and joyful to the next season of your messy and beautiful life. Read the full post.
YOU’RE IMPERFECT. LIFE IS MESSY. SHOW UP ANYWAY.
Real-life is messy. You’re not doing life wrong if sometimes you feel anxious or afraid, or if your life feels incredibly hard right now. It simply means you need to learn to honour your wiring in this messy world. Read the full post here.
WORK WITH YOUR WIRING: LIVING SLOW + SIMPLE ON A MEANDERING PATH
Partly by nature, partly for self-protection I’ve made conscious decisions from childhood to guard ample breathing room in my life and keep things simple. I’ve chosen a slower path. Read the post.
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.
LET GO OF THESE 5 THINGS TO LIVE HAPPIER
I’ve likely walked out more than half of my story but my happiness grows more robust than ever. I am no longer willing to carry baggage that isn’t mine or chase happiness in accolade or external reward. And if it is true that we have two lives—then I’m joyfully living the second of mine. Read the full post.
THE WISDOM OF LIFE SEASONS: HOW TO EMBRACE THE SEASON YOU’RE IN
Seasonal Living is a sustainable and compassionate way of being in our bodies and lives that supports us in befriending our True Selves, honouring our wiring, and showing up fully to life in every season – the light and fun, the dark and scary, and everything in-between. Read the full post.
THRIVING IN THE ‘SPRING SEASONS’ OF LIFE
Late winter and into spring you experience growing anticipation and excitement, and a sense of hopeful or joyful possibility. Where life may have felt dark and heavy, it begins to lighten. Even after the darkest winter, spring always comes again. 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.