I was walking in the woods on Friday and deeply appreciating this time of year and the wisdom it holds.
The sun is growing stronger, and the natural world is waking up.
This winter, specifically, has been a pretty cold sleep
The sap is running in the trees.
The birds are singing.
Yet, no leaves are visible.
Most of the flowers of spring are a month or two away at least.
What many people don't see or appreciate is that, in a place like New England, many of the trees need what are called chill hours. They need a certain amount of time of real cold (below freezing) for deep dormancy and then they need a certain amount of time that is chill between 32-40/45°F to help them slowly wake up and properly time and prepare to grow leaves, flowers, and fruit.
If this process of deep dormancy and then slow waking up is thrown out of whack, the later processes of growth are disrupted or damaged.
Every stage has its time and its place, and you cannot skip the early stages that happen inside before the outer expression.
These are cycles that we can learn from and master within ourselves as well.
If you are struggling to bring forward something new, there is a chance that you are trying to get your life to bear fruit too quickly and skipping the inner work that is needed.
As within, so without.
This is an increasing problem as more and more marketing speak permeates social media and with the advent of widespread AI use.
People start hearing they can "be their highest self" after a single workshop or become a "master" of a healing modality after a few days of training.
People can vibe-code apps quickly or have AI make a branding package, website copy, and social media posting schedule with zero grounding in the reality of how much the person has integrated what they are claiming.
These aren't wrong, per se, but they are conditioning us to think that growth is quick and tawdry.
Most people are craving real meaning, inner resonance, and a sense that what they have done with their life matters.
If you want visible, meaningful, and sustainable growth and change in your life to emerge, you have to start with the beginning of a cycle of creation.
You need inner quiet.
You need early nurturing that isn't going to be visible to anyone but you.
You need to build each subsequent step is on the strength of the previous one.
And sometimes, a powerful cycle of creation needs to be preceded by a cycle of destruction or breaking down to free up new energy.
Depending on who you are, or what you are working on, this process may or may not coincide with the seasons (though sometimes it does).
The key to navigating your personal growth successfully lies within your self and it comes from knowledge of self:
1. Who you are, what your purpose is, what is yours to create, and what is not.
2. What your personal rhythms and cycles are to harness based on the nature of your soul - whether you look at these hormonally, seasonally, astrologically, etc.
3. What the steps are to bring forward what you truly desire
Resonant and aligned answers to these questions do not come quickly.
When it seems like they emerge quickly, it is from long periods of dormancy and slow waking up.
Often times, your purpose wakes up and emerges from months, years, and sometimes decades of work and taking action - despite the risks of failure and dark nights of the soul.
The master work of your life is a journey that is not for the faint of heart.
I hope that you trust your process of creation, truly nurture yourself, and hold the faith to follow your soul's timing.
