There’s a radio show I like to listen to called The Sunday Business Show. Yesterday, the host Conall O Móráin chatted with psychologist Dr Jolanta Burke about hanging on to the feeling of Summer and keeping the momentum going as we move into Autumn.
If you live in the northern hemisphere as I do, you might be dreading the longer nights and cold weather that’s on the way. You might want to hang on to the feeling of summer for a while longer. Heck, you might want to skip Winter altogether and fast forward to Spring… Does that sound like you?
As I listened to Conall & Dr. Jo chatting, I wondered to myself…what’s worth celebrating at this time of year? What can Autumn & Winter give us that Spring & Summer simply cannot? Do I really want to get these months over with as quickly as possible?
For me, this time of year offers a rare opportunity to draw inwards, to become more quiet and introspective. In the Celtic tradition, time was regarded as circular rather than linear. Within this tradition, there was an understanding that everything is constantly changing. I see the arrival of Autumn & Winter as a reminder that nothing stays the same, that ‘what goes around, comes around.’ Spring & Summer will return, but not before I do the important work of the darkest time of the year.
The months ahead give us an opportunity to Harvest whatever projects we have been working on, to Pause, Reflect and begin to Let Go of whatever is no longer serving us. If we are determined to hang on that Summer feeling and push through the Winter full of energy & motivation, where is the space for reflection?
I adore this time of year. When I open the door into our garden first thing in the morning, the crisp coolness hits my skin and I feel a shiver of excitement. The already turning leaves nudge me into a different way of being, a different way of thinking. I know that soon the trees will be bare and much of the bright brash colours of summer will have died.
That might sound quite negative…perhaps not the best mindset if you’re about to start fertility treatment and are hoping to conceive. I choose to see it differently though. I see this as the perfect time to draw inwards, to nourish my body and reflect on how I want the new year to unfold. The Celts believed that the new year began at Samhain, around the end of October. The time between Samhain and the Winter Solstice was a time to exhale, to let go and to make space for new dreams, new projects.
How are you going to move into this new season? Can you move gracefully from Summer style hell-for-leather to a slower, more reflective, nourishing place? I am inviting you now, to join me on my Free 3 Day Fertility Time-Out from September 9th to 11th. The Time-Out offers you 3 days of nourishing rest, helping you to heal and prepare for whatever lies ahead. Take 3 days for yourself, join in at home and take time to pause, exhale and reset. Sign up here
