Long, dark, cold, rainy, or snowy days are coming.

It’s the time of the year where the days get shorter and the light gets dimmer, nature is releasing all the old garments and giving away her gifts she was producing half of the year.

She is taking back her energy to transform it into a dormant state for a few months - to recharge, recover and reconstruct.

We do the same, mostly in a subconscious way.

I already feel the changes in my body and my mind. It’s the same every year, just around the same time in the year.

Some call it seasonal affective disorder, I call it the natures call to rest, recharge, rethink and recover.

Why should we as part of nature be an exception to the natural cycles?

Yes, we live in different climate zones, and I believe our bodies and the ancestral influences carried in the genes of our bodies have shaped the bodies’ needs to fit different conditions in different climates. People originating from the equatorial zones with ancestors living there form many generations, have bodies that are optimized for the life and conditions there. Us, living in the temperate zones with ancestors living here for many generations have bodies that feel the nature changing here in a different way.

Our bodies are originating out of nature, are fed by nature and are an integral part of it. Much more then we want to acknowledge.

So, why go against our body’s nature and its principles?

Many ancient healing and spiritual traditions, including the Traditional Chinese medicine, respect these cycles of nature as part of the cycles of the human body as an integrated system of influence.  

I have observed these same changes in my body and my behaviour for many years now. As part of a western productivity-oriented society, I tried all the tricks and hacks to stay as vibrant and productive as in spring and summer. I just never got there! It just didn’t work for me. And because I was healing from high-functioning depression, I alwasy was watching out for the symptoms to return and saw myself faced with the same low energy and slowing down of my activites. For many years I associeted it with disfunction.

Every year in November, I see myself slowly retracting from busy overstimulating life and rather dedicating my time to deepening my connection to self and my closest ones. I see myself slowly dropping into a hibernation like state, slowing down my activities, my need for connecting, and putting more attention and time to reading inspiring books, journaling, silent contemplation, a lot of meditation and warm sauna sittings and long baths.

I needed a few years to finally let go of the societal pressure for keeping up my energy on the outside, for strenuous workouts, for long office hours and for meeting people and socializing.

Now, I rather commit to nourish myself from deep within, without any guilt and pressure. I let the darkness influence my mind to more calmness, ease and rest, I let the coldness to ease my body into slower movements and relaxation. Yes, I still do the necessary work to survive and thrive in rest, but I heavily cut on all the unnecessary overstimulation, overstraining myself with unnecessary projects and communication.

I go for a calm relaxing body workout or for long contemplative walks in nature, to soak in the gentle sunrays and to breath in the freshness of cold air. I savour these moments much more. I love the smell of cold air and the feel of it on my skin. I take in food that supports my relaxed state and does not burden my body with an overactivation of my metabolism. I don’t drink wine and coffee and my body absolutely loves this!

I enjoy sitting at the fire and staring into its moving flames in a trans like state, with a cup of hot herbal infusion in my hands.

I invite you to do the same. Try it out for just a week or two!

Give yourself permission to go with the flow of nature, the innate intelligence of your body and see how it feels.

I invite you to decide on when you can take one or two weeks out of your busy life and cross all the overwhelming, overstimulating and not necessary activities out of your schedule.

Can you skip a trip to the grocery store and just relax in a meditation instead?

Can you plan for the upcoming busy festive season by being mindful about what your body really needs to ingest for its optimal health, and can you let go of some societal expectations of what needs to be on the table to count for a perfect festive dinner?

Can you skip a get together with your friends or extended family if you feel like staying home instead?

Can you cut time on social media and other screen time and rather take a nice inspiring book to read or journal about your contemplations?

Journal about all the great, and most importantly, also all the little things you have accomplished, experienced and let go of in this year and show some gratitude to yourself and all the great work you have done!

Journal about all the dreams you have for your life. And don’t go into planning or the feeling of luck because they are not there yet in your life. Maybe it’s just not the perfect time yet. Just let yourself go with all the dream details and all the creativity that comes along with it. Just let it flow and just busk in it. And don’t set any timeframes or start asking yourself why its not manifested yet, remember? This way you cut the manifestation current to bring it into your life!

If you need some inspiration or help with the dreaming from your heart, try out my meditation The Heart Portal To Your Dream Life! You can find the meditation here. The more you do it, the more you kickstart the energies of manifestation on the side of the invisible Quantum field. And you set yourself up for many magical manifestations in the near and far future!

Also, I have a beautiful meditation that can help you to nourish and rest your body and soul from within, from the invisible field of unlimited resources, so you can recharge, replenish and reconstruct your energy, vitality, your body and your reality throughout this season of rest and calm.

You can find the meditation Rest to Rise here.

And let me know how it goes for you and what you could let go of or what you cherish the most in your newly found rest season.

With love, Karmen