Syncing with cycles

From the beginning, when I set out to create the FTML membership program, I had the intention to not only help people connect to nature but to the cycles in life. Understanding the cyclical aspects of nature, day into night, the seasons, phases of the moon, the greater life cycle, and more, give a beautiful opportunity to learn from the innate wisdom of nature.

As you may know, the major purpose behind my business is to help you find home within yourself, as well as within the greater context of where you live, locally /nationally/ and globally at home with the Earth herself. 

Man or woman, plant or animal, mammal or amphibious, if you are alive you are effected by cycles. This happens both on a physiological level, such as the way lunar cycles effect the feeding and mating habits of fish, but also in a way that leaves a deep impression on the unconscious as Winter Spring Summer and Fall, symbolically illustrate the life cycle.   

Whether symbolic or physiological, cycles move you, as they change the earth around you. Not being present to them is like being 1/2 awake to your experience on this planet. When we learn to move with the seasons we learn to move with life, maximize our productivity, and ease attachment, or our desire to control life, which can get in the way of our development. 

Because this is such a dense topic, let’s start with the opportunity that Winter brings us right now. Winter symbolically represents the time after death and before life. In Tibetan Buddhism this is called the bardo. In Hopi cosmology it is a time of being between the veils , in liminal space, it represents the time of year when we are closest to spirit. In the life cycle of plants, microbes bacteria and fungi are slowly working under the earth’s surface in preparation for Spring. 

Winter gives the opportunity for rest, introspection, and deep listening. While nature moves in cycles society presents a linear worldview. Our projects, plans and goals are set out to be achieved in straight lines. The cyclical aspect of nature teaches about the appropriateness for rest and urges that we make time to do so. Winter invites us to celebrate the liminal, the time in between. If we can learn to inhabit the in between time, to develop spaciousness, we can better understand where we have been, what narratives we are playing out within our reality, and we can better chart where we want to go.

The cyclical aspect of nature is proficient. There is a time for everything. There is a time to push forward, a time to nurture, a time to let go, a time for rest. You can make the most of this time ~ in Winter, by embracing the pause, tuning in, to your inner life, by deeply listening. This is how we cultivate mindfulness in every moment, by listening. Every moment in everyday provides us with the opportunity to listen. What does our energy feel like? How does it sound? What stories are we creating about the  present moment? Notice how you feel, the language of how you are holding yourself physically-and what this communicates into your relationship with the world around you, and back into your cells. Take this time to grow your awareness. 

All that you come to know, will help to inform you on how you wish to grow, as Winter makes way to Spring and the cycles continue.