Nothing Blooms All Year Long | Cyclical Living & the Seasons

There's a phrase I find myself returning to again and again as the seasons begin to shift:

Nothing blooms all year long.

It seems so obvious when we look at the natural world.

The tide comes in and it goes out. Trees grow, fruit, shed and become bare. There are seasons for expansion and seasons for contraction. Times for growth and times for fallow.

And yet somehow, when it comes to ourselves, we expect something entirely different.

I know I do.

When I'm feeling anxious, overwhelmed, unproductive or as though I'm somehow falling behind, there's a question my coach will often ask me:

"Where are you in your cycle?"

And sometimes that one question changes everything.

Because I have this habit, when my energy begins to dip, of turning on myself.

Why aren't you doing more? Why isn't this flowing? Why can't you get this done? Why aren't you further ahead?

Rather than recognising that perhaps my energy has simply changed.

The seasons within us | Cyclical Living

Years ago, I did some training around menstrual cycle awareness and the idea of our own inner seasons: pre-ovulation as spring, ovulation as summer, pre-menstruation as autumn and menstruation as winter.

It gave me a completely different lens through which to understand my body.

Because each part of the cycle carries a different quality. There are times when we naturally want to be more outward-facing, sociable, creative and expansive. And there are times when our attention begins to turn inward. When we become more discerning. When we need more space, more rest, less noise.

Neither is better.

We need both.

And the more I've begun to notice these rhythms within myself, the more I see them reflected in the landscape around me.

When the landscape begins to turn

There comes a point when it feels as though we've been living in the great ovulation of the year.

Summer. Expansion. Long days. Heat. Sociability. Going outwards and into the world.

And then, gradually, something begins to change.

The evenings draw in. The light feels different. Fruits ripen. Leaves begin their slow turn.

There is a gentle sense of the energy beginning to descend.

Almost as though the landscape itself is moving from ovulation towards its premenstrual phase.

And perhaps there is an invitation in that.

Not to slam the brakes on. Not to declare one season over and immediately rush towards the next.

But simply to notice.

To recognise that our energy isn't supposed to remain the same.

One of the reasons I've become increasingly drawn to earth-based spirituality and the Wheel of the Year is because nature gives us a language for something our culture doesn't always make much room for.

Cyclicality. Cyclical Living.

The reminder that contraction isn't failure.

Rest isn't laziness.

Slowing down doesn't mean we've lost our way.

And perhaps we don't need to wait until we're completely depleted before giving ourselves permission to move at a different pace.

What season are you in?

I'm trying to practise meeting these shifts with a little more grace.

Less what's wrong with me?

More what season am I in?

Because perhaps the practice isn't always about trying to get ourselves back to the version that was productive, expansive, sociable or full of energy.

Perhaps it's about becoming curious about the version that's here now.

What season are you in right now?

And what might change if, rather than fighting it, you allowed yourself to be there?

With love,

Emilie x

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