It is important to close cycles well before moving and this is a great season to wonder if you have done that already. the beginning of a season is upon us as well come December 21st. How can we close this end of the year correctly?
Nature grants us this wonderful reminder as seasons change from one to the next and so for this season I wonder if you might courageously close some cycles and begin to visualize what it is you want to grow in the next season.
There are (at least!) 4 areas in which we recommend you pause, take inventory, release what needs to be released, and begin shifting your energy into what you would like to have next.
First is the area we invite you to focus on is your biological area.
How has your body been feeling lately?
Our bodies show signs of what we have invested in it so take a moment to run down your body and ask how your body is truly doing. Start with your head and hair and slowly move downward. How do your hair and skin feel? Headaches? Tooth-discomfort? Neck? Shoulders? Arms? Wrists? Hands? Torso? Stomach? Back? Hips? Thighs? Calves? Ankles? Feet? Toes? No part of our body is unimportant. Every part has a function and depending on our lives and stressors, we might hold stress in various places.
Check in with your body. Are you as agile as you could be? Are you loving food that loves your body back? Checked in with your trusted health expert about your care and make sure you have checked in with your body in all the ways you can.
Thank your body for all it has accomplished for you this season.
Be grateful for the season it has sustained you and let your heart sit in gratitude and awe of the thousands of details your body handles for you, without you even thinking about specifically.
Your body is a gift that has been in service to you.
Second, we invite you to focus on your mind. How have your thoughts been lately? In this past season have you noticed your thoughts rushing, keeping you up, or maybe the opposite, slow to respond or difficulty concentrating? Our minds have their own pace and sometimes we do not consciously know what weight we might be carrying that affects our thinking processes. Different seasons might bring on mood changes. Have your moods been in alignment with your season? Do you feel well? Do you feel like you have contributed in the ways you would have wanted to or did something hold you back? Good mental wellness is about being present. Be present with the current state of your mind. Take some deep breaths and notice where your mind goes first. Be grateful for all the thinking you have done in this last season. Millions of thoughts have been processed by your mind and informed your heart and actions. The closing season is indeed closing and a new one waits to spring forth. Thank your mind for all it’s work, conscious and unconscious. Your mind is a beautiful gift.
Third, we invite you to think of your social-well being. True health as defined by the world health organization includes your social wellness. We are social beings. Mammals who grow in community and need one another to survive. The world is still recovering from the effects of a global pandemic that encouraged individuality and separation as a strategy for survival.
It is not surprising that depression and anxieties have risen to unprecedented highs. There must be a correlation and we believe it closely related to the pains of disconnection. As one season draws to a close and another one yearns to emerge, how have your relationships been? Do you have (at least) 2 people you might call on in times of distress? Are those people individuals you trust wholeheartedly and know you deeply? Good well-being comes from authentic, healthy, and nurturing relationships we have with those around us.
Take a moment to think of the relationships around you. In this last season, were there people who were present in your life as things got difficult or as you celebrated accomplishments? Have you had someone to laugh and cry with as life presented itself? Sit with the reality of how deep and strong your social connections feel. Be thankful for the awareness of whatever emerges in this moment. Awareness brings choice, so even if you do not feel you have enough deep connections, this is an opportunity to decide how you would like to proceed in the upcoming season. Your better wellness awaits your courage to engage in deeper connections in the next season.
Lastly, we invite you to think about your spirituality. Your spirit is an essence, something that lives and moves and makes you specifically YOU. We have the ability to strengthen and nurture our spirits and good spiritual-fitness requires an ability to disconnect from any essence that is not truly yours or depletes your spirit. Spiritual practices are generative -give life-, give purpose and a sense of deep peace. In this last season, how were your spiritual practices? How is your spirit? Are your practices in alignment with your beliefs? Are there practices you have missed in this last season that you might want to revisit in this next season? A healthy spirituality often positively impacts our behaviors, connections to others, and peace within ourselves. Spiritual practices help us feel focused, strong, and connected to the force in creation around us. We invite you to imagine a large tree with incredibly large roots being nurtured by the ground and the water surrounding it. Your spirituality is lived by you but felt by those around you as an extension of who you are. Reflect on how you might want to be more spiritually present for yourself and others as one season ends and another begins.
You have been gifted with more life as we together enter this next season & year. Set your intentions for this end of the year as an act of self-love. You deserve the goodness you desire and we believe the universe conspires in our favor. We celebrate you and all you have done in this closing season and look forward to seeing how you emerge in the next.
Written by Alexandra Zareth
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