"The only constant is change." - Heraclitus
Fall symbolizes a time of change. We experience fall here in the Northern Hemisphere from September to December, while our friends in the Southern Hemisphere experience their fall season from March to June. We can become busier in Fall as we start back to school with kids or adapt to transitions of third quarter goals and leave behind Summer.
It’s a season for harvesting what we have sown, and we can harvest all year with mindful planning including time to reflect & shift along the way. This includes assessing our external & internal world.
We are in optimal condition to manage the everyday stresses in life when we are in balance with ourselves including our values and our unique needs and with our total environment, all that is external to us that we come in contact with.
So how can we adapt to seasons of change?
How can we be intentional about how we enter into this new season?
What do we most need from this next few months in our lives?
Here are five ways you can start fresh this fall!
1. Now is a good time to reset with planned breaks from business.
What would this look like for you? Some ideas include no screen Sundays, no devices after 9pm, TVs off during the weekdays, and reading a novel before bed!
2. It's a good time to think about what goals you may have had for your year.
What goals have you planned? What would you like to accomplish in the last four months of the year? What daily habits need to shift or be nurtured in your life? How can you attend to your emotional health? What do you need to make these changes? What’s been working & what needs adjusting so you can feel at your best?
3. Create an oasis at home.
What one area of your house might need tending?
Is it time to clean out the junk drawer? Set up a mail/bill center at your home? Is it buying new sheets & a candle for your master bedroom?
Remember our environment affects our mood. We can shift our mood by shifting our external experience. What colors soothe you? What scents ease your mind? What do you need to feel relaxed and at ease?
What can you change that will ease stress & add more joy?
4. Start every day with a nurturing daily routine
…even if its only 5 mins!
Add one or all of these to your morning routine:
Warm water with lemon
Meditation
Journaling
Movement (stretching, walking, dance party in the kitchen while the coffee brews or the tea steeps)
5. If we stay in harmony with the seasons, we can adapt our choices to help us stay balanced.
There are natural rhythms of the universe, like the ebb and flow of tides and the sun rising and setting.
When we are in balance & attuned to these natural rhythms, we have more vitality and joy and more easily metabolize the normal stresses of life. When we are not in sync we feel more stress mentally & physically.
There is a natural rhythm to every day that can guide our daily habits.
In the Ayurvedic tradition, it encourages us to wake up by 6am, and have a daily care routine that starts with most importantly meditation, warm water, & movement. We eat our largest meals by 1 o'clock. Dinner would be finished by 7 or 8 at the latest with a more moderate amount of food. Lights out is encouraged by 10:30pm without late intense work, especially on devices…. This is hard for all of us but this general guideline can help us stay in a daily rhythm that supports our healthiest mind-body.
Our bodies are constantly regenerating. We see how quickly a scrape or cut can shift as cells regenerate over a day and some cells regenerate over seven years. Though some cells may never regenerate there is research that our telomeres (the protective endings on chromosomes) can grow from lifestyle changes alone. Yes!
If we stay in harmony with the seasons we can adapt our choices to help us balance.
What are you celebrating about your year and what has been generated, supported, accomplished, & endured?
What have you learned and how can you get a fresh start this fall to balance your mind body and spirit and create the changes you still wish to make?
Leave me a comment and let me know!
Not sure where to get started with creating true life balance?
Discover the area of your life most in need of your attention & focus and get matched with expert insights on how to move forward starting right now. Take my life in balance quiz here.
All my Best,
Jamie
