Why Using The Seasons To Set Goals Is A Powerful Strategy
It's mid-February, and you may be cursing up and down, because you're best laid New Year's Resolutions fell flat as a week old scone. I wanna empathize with your pain, shame and guilt, and tell you it's really not all your fault. Trying to accomplish a goal in the dead of winter is like when Gandalf and the Fellowship in LOTR tried to make it over Redhorn Pass of Caradhras. Yes, I'm a big fan, and that scene so beautifully illustrates how arduous it can be when we try to work against nature, and her cycles. So...I'm here to share my goal setting epiphany that radically changed how I set my yearly intentions and goals.
No More New Year's Resolutions....Ever!
The big confession...I don't work with the January 1st resolutions anymore. January 1st is actually right in the middle of winter. Winter is Yin energy. Think introspection, caving it, hibernation. Disclaimer: I wanna be clear that I'm not saying don't go after something that you want to if you really want it. I'm proposing a new perspective, one that includes more surrender and flow. One that trust the inherent wisdom of nature, and her natural rhythms of which we are a part.
Spring Is A Time For New Beginnings, New Creations, A Blossoming Of New Goals And Intentions
Mid-February is when you start to feel the energy of Spring. It's a welling of excitement. The birds are singing and dancing amidst the trees and sky, the fresh, green shoots are peeking out of barren branches, the Sun is sharing more of itself. It's the beginning of a beautiful flow of energy that can easily take us and our goals with it, like on a magical boat ride going downstream.
Let's Talk About The Seasons And Their Influence
- Spring, new beginnings (Yang/Outward)
- Summer, maturation (Yang/Outward)
- Fall, dropping off (Yin/Inward)
- Winter, dormancy/death (Yin/Inward)
Spring Equinox, March 20th, 2021, starts the Yang energy. The next 6 months, from Spring Equinox to Fall Equinox is Yang. It's full of life, vitality and intensity. Depending on what hemisphere your in, I'm in the northern hemisphere and it's Springtime, which means light begins to come back. By September, we begin the Fall season. Equinox means equal night and day. The Solstice is the extreme where the earth is either tilted closest to the sun (summer) or furthest away (winter).
When you really get how important timing is in your life and your own personal energy cycles, I'm gonna bet you'll find your dreams and desires find their way into your life with more ease. Ease is really the secret ingredient to making anything happen in our lives. Forcing, dominating, exploding and tantruming only causes mental, emotional and physical distress. It doesn't mean you're not in motion to move towards something, and just letting the world haphazardly unfold. It means that your mental and emotional state is more relaxed, in tune with nature, trusting the cycles of energy that permeate every cell in your body. You're not alone if you feel like you don't have enough time, or feel scarcity and competition, yet trust...ahhh, that's the sweet spot. Trusting timing, nature and your deeply connected part in it all is true power.
