We all deserve a little down-time to take care of ourselves, right? After all, taking care of ourselves makes us better able to care for all the tasks that are begging for our attention all around us every day. So why is it so hard to find this down-time? I call it Niksen time, which comes from the Dutch art of doing nothing, and the best place to do this is outside in nature. We all have heard the healing benefits of nature, right? So again, what's stopping us?
Addressing all these issues takes time. I can't teach you how to do it in a workshop, or even a month-long course. It takes baby steps in creating habits. It takes living it and practicing it through all the seasons of life. That's why I'm here to offer you Seasonal Simplicity. You will:
- Too much to do
- Too many distractions (*cough* cell phones)
- Not enough time
- Societal expectations for productivity
- Feeling lazy or guilty that there are better things we "should" be doing
Addressing all these issues takes time. I can't teach you how to do it in a workshop, or even a month-long course. It takes baby steps in creating habits. It takes living it and practicing it through all the seasons of life. That's why I'm here to offer you Seasonal Simplicity. You will:
- Enjoy more time outside
- Have more community support or buy-in from your family to allow you to step away more
- Not feel responsible for all the things all the time
- End the year feeling a bit lighter and more confident in your ability to step outside for some down-time
Each month we will focus on the seasonal structures and lessons:
And throughout the year we will gauge our progress through four steps:
- Spring - new life, celebration, time management, rapid growth, childhood (play & learn), morning time
- Summer - mid-day, working and playing, siesta, adolescences (exponential growth), building identity, sharpen focus, plants are getting ready to fruit, as are we, more independent, slowing down to internalize
- Fall - end of day, harvest, gather & share, gratitude, adulthood bearing fruit, reflect, return to the earth, letting go, turn from focusing on accomplishments to focusing on community
- Winter - dormant, waiting, death, reflection has left us with what's essential, mystery and wonder of what's coming, preparing the soil for growth
And throughout the year we will gauge our progress through four steps:
- Permission - start by allowing ourselves time to rest, guilt-free
- Perspective - what do you value most? what is your intention?
- Pace - doesn't have to be huge amounts of time; where can you make time to rest? Treat this time as sacred
- Pleasure - what did you discover during your down-time?