Here in the Northern Hemisphere we are in the thick of summer heat and humidity. Nature is reaching it’s height of growth and bounty. It’s that time of too-muchness — too many zucchinis, too much sun, too many activities to choose from, too many bugs. You may feel like you too are at your height of growth and abundant blossoming.
Sometimes however, what’s happening outside is not matching what’s being felt within.
Did you know you have an inner season?
As wonderful as it can feel to be in rhythm with the outer seasons, this is not always the case. Yet, feeling out of sync with the outer season does not necessarily mean something’s wrong with you.
For example, it can be winter on the outside but you’ve been rocking an inner summer full of blooming and blossoming. That’s awesome!
Maybe the outer season like now is summer, and you’re feeling like a very early fragile spring sapling, in need of light touch and extra tender care.
Or perhaps it’s fall outside when nature is preparing for a winter’s sleep and you’re feeling more like a a bud in spring, full of possibility and just preparing to step out and shine. Just as valid! All real!
An inner season can last from a few days, weeks to several years. It’s time we gave ourselves permission to be in whatever season we find ourselves without needing to pathologize or force something different. How freeing is that?
I was in a winter season since the fall of 2019 and have been lately emerging into my early spring.
I feel like the underground seed that’s just barely hearing the first distant whispers of growth.
Being in my inner winter meant I was needing to be extra gentle and tender with myself. I needed more rest and sleep, more nourishment, more dreamy time. I was living with uncertainty but as if my roots were growing deeper underground. I felt in between my old self but not quite anchored in what I was becoming. I was with my inner world more, more in the depths of emotion. My inner guidance that I once could rely on, had been foggy. No, I wasn’t depressed.
As a culture we don’t give winter much credit, just as we are leery of anything dark. Being in winter does not mean nothing is happening. It’s actually a very fertile time. Just as in outer winter, nature is busy building up its reserves, so too are we in our inner winters. I can now trust that way more is occurring behind the scenes of my life than I can fathom. A pandemic certainly had supported me in my inner winter!
What I found once I could accept and embrace my inner season of winter was relief and a sense of freedom. There’s no room anymore for forcing things to happen or riding against the current. All we can do is let it flow and run it’s course. Trusting in the mystery, patient with ourselves, no judgment or comparing. All in divine timing!
Now that I have perspective looking back at my last season and as I transition into this next inner season of spring, I feel clear and compassion for my self.
How about you?
What inner season are you in?
What would it feel like if you could give yourself permission to fully be in it no matter what the outer season or what others are doing?
Use this knowledge as empowerment and not an excuse, please.
Karen Tasto, CPC, has been holding sacred space for women to journey towards their whole selves for almost 20 years. Beginning as a yoga & meditation teacher and currently as a certified life coach, women’s circle facilitator, retreat leader, Reiki practitioner, and certified JourneyDance guide, Karen is dedicated to supporting women in their quest to feel more alive, connected and whole. Find out more at www.karentasto.com.
Featured image credit: by Kiriakos Verros on Unsplash
Article originally posted on Medium.com