It's Time To Winterize
The season is asking for slowness. Can you listen?
As the days shorten we find our bodies naturally craving slowness and inwardness. Warming soups and stews sound better than salads. Cozy blankets and crackling fires feel better than late night internet scrolling. Gentle yoga nourishes us more than a bunch of burpees. We forget that our bodies and lives, just like the seasons, have changing needs and offerings at different times of the year. The key is taking a breath and listening with honesty to hear what our lives and bodies are asking for in this colder, darker season.
Still many of us feel our lives just don’t allow for slowing down. In a culture that pushes constant growth and forward motion as a sign of our worth, validity and goodness, slowness becomes a radical act that asks us to bravely honor what feels good to US rather than what looks good to everyone else.
And so I challenge you to give yourself permission to go in. Let yourself rest, feel and sense, allowing the darkening days to signal a softening of your body and mind.
Now is not the time for big moves or grand plans. It’s a time of fallowness. A time of reset. A time to commune, cook and connect with those we love so that we may stoke and rejuvenate our souls for the year to come.
And as I say to all my clients, CARE is an ever shifting target. It moves and changes depending on our needs and rarely looks the same in every area and time in our lives.
Maybe for you winter time care looks like taking a break from Instagram for a week or opting out of holiday gift giving. Perhaps it’s allowing yourself 5 minutes in the morning to sit in silence before you slam into your day or maybe it’s simply making a giant pot of soup or a batch of cookies.
Remember, this is not about making major changes to “enhance” or "live your best life" but rather about letting things fall away that no longer feel good right now to allow in what does.
I’d love to know what small slowness steps you’re taking. Hit reply and let me know.
And as this is a little goodbye until 2022, I want to leave you with the tools that are currently helping me and my clients fill our care cups.
Music
This is my official playlist for soothing the soul and reconnecting to a slower, softer part of ourselves. It’s particularly good listening when you’re stretching, cooking or easing into your evening after a busy day.
Expand into Intuitive Knowing is a beautiful and powerful chant. The repetitive nature of chanting has been shown to help lower the heart rate, reduce stress and improve cognition however I do it because it just feels good. Put this chant on and notice how your breath deepens, your mind focuses and your heart begins to warm and expand.
Recipes
Kale, Sausage and Lentil soup- A gorgeous and delicious winter time dish.
Kale Salad with Butternut Squash- Everyone in my family loves this recipe. It’s a real crowd pleaser and makes the house smell fantastic.
Brazilian Fish Stew- This is my go-to soup when I’m craving something rich, satisfying and I want it in 20 minutes flat.
Care Call Recordings
45 minute pick-me-ups to get you feeling connected, inspired and very well cared for.
As always, thank you for reading and for being here.
I fully believe that the love and care we want to see in the world begins with us, with how we tend to ourselves mind, body, heart and soul.
It is not always easy and absolutely necessary for the meaningful lives, joyful families and inclusive communities we seek to sustain and grow.
Take excellent care of yourself and I’ll see you in January!
I created this mini-course for women who find themselves drowning in "shoulds," and who are ready to live life on their own terms. This self-paced course is doable even for the busiest among us, consisting of a digital workbook, 4 guided meditations, and absolutely no deadlines, obligations, long-term commitments, or "shoulds.
May we all enjoy the energy that comes from leaving our confusion and all the shoulds in the dust.
If you enjoyed this post, please keep reading!
This conversation is between myself and an incredible woman named Ani, who shares how she learned how to be authentic, practice self-compassion, and take up space without guilt or shame through my 6-month group coaching program, Homecoming. Ani is a model for how to excavate internalized misogyny and live authentically without fear of others’ opinions. The conversation originally took place on my podcast, The Path Home.