So today is the Autumn equinox where sun rise and sunset are exactly 12 hours apart. And then for the next 3 months, the day gets darker – along with my mood!
If you are one of the many people who struggle this time of year (like I used to) here is what changed my views and mood!
It’s the earth moving around the sun that causes our seasons and nature too is running a perpetual cycle: Spring, always turns into Summer, which is always followed by Autumn and Winter always precedes Spring and so it goes on. So the days will lengthen again and the sun will bring back warmer days. In simple terms, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! The days will get longer once more – so there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
But let’s go deeper. Each season has a purpose. Spring is about getting ready, a time for investing energy in preparing; ‘sowing the seeds’. Summer is about abundant growth – the growing of all the things invested in; all the sown seeds grow. Autumn is about harvesting; the gathering in of everything you have invested in; a time to enjoy what you have grown. Winter is then hibernation; recovery and restoration so that Spring can spring up again.
By accepting that each season has a purpose and acknowledging that if this fine balance is broken, the whole cycle will fall apart, it can help you to view this time of year differently, leading to a different experience.
We can also learn a lot from going back to our Neanderthal roots – as in many ways we have not changed that much (less a bit of hair maybe) but our environments have and this is a big contributor to people’s unease in the autumn and winter. Our cavemen friends at this time of year would be starting to slow down, they would be increasing the hours of sleep as the nights lengthened (and they had no electricity to do things by!). In winter their level of activity would decrease even more but just like nature, this was a period for the body to recuperate to prepare for the heightening activity in spring.
Many of us now suffer from burn out as we don’t have this ‘down time’ The invention of electricity has created a perpetual summer. And in that hive of activity we literally overheat, mentally and physically.
So accept this time of year it’s time to start slowing down. Allow yourself a different level of activity. Get more rest. And appreciate the changes in nature knowing that in just 3 months time, we will hit the winter equinox and the days will start getting longer once more and you will be in a fitter state to ‘spring’ back.
Caroline Cavanagh is author of Anxiety Alchemy, and works with people to reduce their symptoms of anxiety.
adding zest 