In, out. Up, down. Energized, tired. Life is full of rhythms. Rhythms are even found in the seasons. It's a cycle of up and down with the summer being up and the winter being down. The spring and fall are the transition periods of moving into the next phase. We see the same with the moon. Full is up and new is down.
We currently live in a society that doesn't work with the rhythms. We push through the down phases and are often so exhausted we can't benefit from the up phases. Then life gives us a reason to pause, whether we want it or not.
I, myself have moved into a required winter phase. A winter phase is a period of rest. It's a place of reflection and nourishment. It's a period where the energies are lower and the nights are longer. If we were to live a life where we slowed down in the winter and truly used it as a time for reflection, we'd have so much more energy in the summer.
Even in my required winter phase, I won't be able to rest like I really need to. At work last Friday, I fell. I ended up in urgent care and finally a knee brace. My knee is currently diagnosed as severely sprained. We're waiting until swelling has gone down to determine if there is more to this than originally thought.
With an injured knee, I should be resting. I should be using this time to go inward and reflect as I rest my body. Since the accident, I have been doing this. The problem is I still need to feed my family. The doctor only said I couldn't work until the 10th. Oh, sure there are restrictions but guess where I will most likely be tomorrow and if I can't go, I'll go without pay. They'll set up a chair at the register and I really don't see how that can work, the registers are designed for standing work. I'll not be able to put my leg up.
This is how our society works. A person gets sick and unless they are so bad they can't move, they are at work. Our jobs expect it. One fellow employee came to work with Strep. Not only was she not taking care of herself, but she was also infecting the rest of us. I don't usually get it but I got a little because my body has been so tired from work.
If we can, we need to be following the rhythms of our own bodies. If our body is tired, rest. Get your sleep, take it easy, choose reflective activities, etc. Stop pushing through and listen to your body. Sleep when your body says sleep. When you replenish your body, you will have the strength to do activities again. If you don't, it's because your body has been so overworked that it has gone into a phase of required rest.
Seasons. We have winter. This is the period of rest. I don't know about you but I feel like hibernating. Unfortunately, society has a different plan. We have one of the most beautiful and yet exhausting holidays right in the middle of winter for my part of the world. If you don't believe me, hang out at Hobby Lobby for a day. The number of people we have coming in to get an early start on their Christmas prep is astounding. Instead of resting, we're shopping, decorating, having parties and gatherings galore. Those gatherings are a big deal so they take a lot of work.
We move from these crazy holiday activities to the new year. Setting goals and reflecting on the old and new years are perfect activities but we aren't planning our goals wisely. Instead of looking at the seasons we're anxious to jump into our goals right away. We burn out because we're starting these major goals in the middle of the rest season.
In spring, we start to get some great energy. We get super excited and then we make a mistake. We do too much. Think of spring as the waking up period. Sure we have a lot of energy but it's not like we're in our most energetic phase. It's a transition season. We'll have a burst of energy followed by a need to rest. If we were to plan our activities accordingly, then we'd do a little more activity then we did in rest. We'd choose smaller activities to work with the small burst and we'd save the big activities for when we have a lot of energy in the summer.
Summer is a time of full-on energy. The days are long, most of us are getting our vitamin D directly from the best source. We tend to have more energy. If we have planned our new year's goals according to season then this is the time when we can get the majority of that accomplished.
We move into fall and we are in a winding-down stage of the year. We start to get a little more tired. The weather sends us indoors more. We're harvesting the fruits of our labor and hopefully storing for winter.
This cycle will happen to some degree no matter where you live in the world. You may not see a full-on winter cycle in your part of the world. You may be in a completely different cycle if you are in the opposite part of the world, Christmas in summer sounds great to me. Some places don't really have transition periods, they seem to go straight from one to the other. If you are aware of the seasons around you, you will be able to work with what you have.
Let's move on to a smaller cycle. This is the cycle of the moon. Most women know that they are affected by the moon. How their own monthly cycles fit in is something they get to figure out. A good idea is to track your own energy in relation to the moon. I was surprised to note that as we get closer to the full moon I have more emotional energy then I had when the moon was new. I hadn't realized how affected by the moon I really am.
If you can realize how you are responding to the moon, then you can plan your monthly activities to coincide with your energy. Big projects during the full moon. Reflective activities during the new moon.
Now, imagine if you took your daily cycles and planned that way. You'd sleep when it's time for sleep. You'd notice when you have the most energy and plan your activities accordingly. You'd rest, even for a few minutes if necessary, when you are tired. Instead, we push through and then wonder why we get burned out.
Let's look at your homes for a minute. How can you apply these principles of rhythm in your home? Maybe it would be a good idea to set up a cleaning cycle that works with the moon. Smaller and more reflective tasks around the new moon and those big items around the full moon. Maybe you have a room that takes more energy to clean, choose to clean it during the full moon. When are the spring and fall of your day? Choose smaller tasks that don't take much energy to do for the spring of your day. Take a moment in the fall of your day to appreciate the fruits of your labor. Take these same principles and add them to every part of your life, to the best of your ability.
Once upon a time, the majority of society lived this way. We didn't have electricity and lamps weren't great to do work by so when the sun went down, people went to bed. They did less physical work in the winter and a lot of work in the summer. They lived off of the land and in harmony with the cycles of the land. In my ideal world, we're doing similar again. We're living in harmony with the rhythms of life.
What season is your life in? Are you taking full advantage of that? Me, I'll be resting as much as I possibly can.
Michele
House Intuitive
Healing homes and the souls who love them.
