Some good and some not.
One challenge we face with the advancement of technology is that we have drifted further and further away from the natural rhythms of the earth.
With the invention of the lightbulb, we gained power to extend our days even when the days were short.
When all humanity used to retire with the sun and rise with the sun, we’ve now created our own rhythms to extend our productivity and push the hours far more than ever before.
With modern food production we no longer have to eat what is season since we can import anything from a different hemisphere. We don’ t have to grow our own food, instead we can even create food with chemicals and preservatives inside a lab.
As we industrialized our work and came out of the fields, we no longer spent our winters at a slower pace in sync with the earth that was resting. We extended our productivity and keep the same frantic pace all year long. We don’t have to adapt with the season aside from dressing a little warmer or dealing with the elements like shoveling snow. And even at that, I can complain of the annoying interruption it is to have to account for the fact that it’s now winter outside.
Many people struggle with seasonal depression, and I wonder how much of it is related to being out of sync with nature? How much of it is related to keeping up with a modern lifestyle that never stops when we were actually designed to be in tune with the earth? Maybe the reason so many people fail to carry out their New Years Resolutions has far less to do with motivation and strategy than it does with timing.
I actually love the New Year trend of choosing a word or intention for the year. It reminds me of my mom who is a master gardener. In January she always gets excited about her seed catalogues that start to arrive. They’re full of beautiful pictures of different flowers and heirloom vegetables and she gets giddy about browsing through the catalogue dreaming of what she’s going to plant in spring. She starts a garden journal and jots down her plans for what seeds she is going to order and maps out a design of where they will be planted and how they’ll grow together. She spends the whole winter in this dreaming and planning phase.
Choosing a word or intention is a great way to start this stage of spiritual creation. I also love the idea of allowing myself all winter to be reflective. This is still a great time to choose what I want to plant and thoughtfully design in how it’s going to fit into the garden of my life. But I don’t have to expect myself to start planting seeds and suddenly change my behavior just because the first of January came around. Instead, I can take a more natural approach and treat this from a creator perspective, allowing for a spiritual creation stage before expecting a physical one.
Mother Earth is the best teacher of true productivity and fruitfulness. She doesn’t skip seasons. She’s willing to plant and harvest because she has her period of rest. She works in order and trusts the process. The seasons are heavens blueprint for creation right outside our window.
Align with the season.
See it
Say it
Feel it
Do it
Become it
You are a creator. Now go create something great.
