“New Year, New You” Not the best Plan! Live with the Seasons

As February arrives and the “new year, new you” is fading maybe time to look at how we can make better use of renewal with the seasons, and caring for ourselves as us.

We don’t need new selves. We are great already. We don’t need a blank slate and it is not good to start over, as appealing as it sounds. We need who we’ve been before because it informs our present and future. When we acknowledge and integrate past experiences, we become more whole, purposeful, and loving people .If we push down or disconnect from uncomfortable events or situations from our past we’re likely to repeat the patterns of our past selves. This is true even in cases of deep trauma, though it can be a slow, careful, multi-year process of unfolding. Try to avoid  start over from the ground up, which this new year, new you mantra implies. Embrace you. Love you. Learn from you.

This is not the best time of year to dive into an ambitious fitness or personal growth journey.

Outlining goals and plans for ourselves and thinking ahead about how we want our year to progress is a good plan. Starting these visions is best left to a few months later in the Spring. This is especially true around fitness goals, as mid-winter not a good time pushing body to extremes. In Winter we need to turn inward, we do not have the outward energy to bounce into new fitness routine, and it often fails and we blame our lack of commitment, energy, or inability to prioritize for our short-lived ambition. There is a key underlying thread most of us are unaware of, we’re not living with the seasons.

In modern culture we don’t give enough acceptance to how much the time of year impacts our thoughts, mood, health, and much more. 

Seasonal rhythms and their effect on us are an important and very undervalued. Five Element Acupuncture teaches that Winter is a time of rest and rejuvenation. A quiet, still time where we restore from the hustle and intensity of the rest of the year. It’s a time where resources like our energy, time, and previously food stores, are carefully guarded. The priority of the body and mind are to preserve and protect us to ensure we survive until Spring.

Winter is the time of the dormant seed. Planted, but not yet growing. Waiting, but not yet ready to sprout. Pushing ourselves into doing all the things in the dead of winter is in direct conflict with the seasonal forces. New beginnings and uninhibited growth belong to the birth energy of the spring season.

Winter, is so often disliked as a season, but it  is a magical time of transformation. 

When Autumn fades into Winter it rests to bring life to Spring. The natural stillness and quiet are the crucial space needed to begin the cycle again. Rest in the western world is regarded as lazy and indulgent, when truly it is an incredibly productive time for us to renew ourselves and prepare for the upcoming year. If you’re struggling to keep up with your resolutions or new goals, allow them to fade to their natural place of rest, stillness, and potential until Springtime.

Plant the seeds of new beginnings and allow them to break through the surface of the earth in their own time when the days are longer and the bright, vibrant energy of Yang is stronger in Spring. Enjoy the of deep inner peace and quiet of the Yin in Winter and reconnect with the natural rhythms of the world. Life gets easier when we tune into our environment and live in alignment with it.

For more information and treatment contact Hannah on;- https://www.southwellacupuncture.co.uk/contact/