Why Working With The Seasons When Goal Setting Is A Great Strategy

It’s mid-February, and it can be so frustrating to realize that your January 1st resolutions flopped hard.  You’re probably feeling so dejected, because you didn’t reach those beautiful, healthy goals you set for yourself. Thing like:

• Finally getting started with an exercise routine
• Eating more healthy and mindfully
• Or, my personal favorite, creating daily self-care rituals to support mind, body and spirit

Oh, my friend, you’re so not alone. I feel your pain, guilt and shame. This is why I wanted to share this simple biological timing strategy, that once I figured it, totally reshaped the way I thought about setting my personal and professional goals.  It’s not totally your fault, it’s timing.  If you’ve been working against timing, you’ve bee doing that proverbial “going upstream or swimming upstream” to try and achieve something. It takes so much more effort when you’re working against the forces of nature. You’re gonna poop out fast!

Figuring Out Right Timing Of Goal Setting Is The Magic Ingredient

So, here’s the big reveal…I don’t work with the January 1st resolution’s timing anymore. January 1st is smack dab in the middle of winter, and winter’s energy is  Yin. The energy is meant to be more insular, you’re going within, you’re becoming more introspective. Think hibernation.  Now, let me be clear, I’m not saying don’t ever go after something that you want if you’re really called to do it, no matter what time of the year. I’m just encouraging you to see what’s possible if you really began to work with the cycles of the seasons:

• Spring, new beginnings (Yang/Outward)
• Summer, maturation (Yang/Outward)
• Fall, dropping off (Yin/Inward)
• Winter, dormancy/death (Yin/Inward)

The Delicious, Rejuvenating Energy Of Spring And New Beginnings: Let’s Set Some Goals

Mid-February is when you’ll start to feel the energy of Spring.  The birds are chirping and doing their mating dances, the buds on the trees are just poking through the the bare branches, and in the Western Hemisphere, the Sun is starting to stretch it’s light longer and longer into the days. There’s a Celtic holiday called Imbolc. It’s the holiday of the Goddess and the Green Man.

“Imbolc is traditionally the great festival and honouring of Brigid (Brighid, Bride, Brigit), so loved as a pagan Goddess that her worship was woven into the Christian church as St Bridget. She’s a Goddess of healing, poetry and smithcraft. She’s a Goddess of Fire, of the Sun and of the Hearth. She brings fertility to the land and its people and is closely connected to midwives and new-born babies. She’s the Triple Goddess, but at Imbolc she’s in her Maiden aspect.” goddessandgreenman.co.uk. Imbolc happened on February 1st in 2021, and it marks the half-way point between Winter and Spring.

Back to working with the energy of the seasons, here’s some ideas:

• Plan a new goal to start in the Spring. Journal the experience.
• Connect with the land to learn how to detect the subtle energies of the seasons, and also the day to day cycles
• Find your ideal daily timing to maximize the day’s energy. Every day is a micro season:
  • Morning-Spring
  • Mid-day-Summer
  • Late afternoon-Fall
  • Evening-Winter
• Celebrate the 4 seasonal markers:
  • Spring Equinox, March 20th
  • Summer Solstice, June 2oth
  • Fall Equinox, September 22nd
  • Winter Solstice, December 21st

Now, Plan Your Year

I’ve been starting to plan my year around the cycles of the seasons. My mind, body and spirit have really love the new rhythm. Here’s another fun fact. Our natural rhythm is to be diurnal. “Humans are diurnal — we are active in the day and sleep at night. Active chiefly in the daytime.” Online Dictionary. We are intimately connected to nature, and her cycles, so learn how to co-create with her.

Q: Now, learning a bit about the seasonal cycles and how they relate to your energy and intentions, what’s one thing you can do to help you find your flow?