My Seasonal Manifesto | Spring 2019

Reconnecting with each season and realigning with the rhythm of nature shapes my year. It helps me live seasonably, creatively and manage change too. As each season shifts I create simple seasonal manifestos to add a layer of appreciation to the small things happening in my day to day. The manifesto forms a set of intentions for the season ahead, and enables me to have a slow, gentle and sustainable connection and progress with my word for the year. My word this year is Bloom. It’s a word that is very much connected to spring and summer with the natural blooming of plants and flowers and the different energy the season brings.

As we transitioned from Winter to Spring with the spring equinox I started to reflect on my winter manifesto and the start of the new season ahead. The spring equinox and astronomical spring are where I mark the shift into spring rather than using meteorological spring. I feel that this sits more in line with nature’s cyclical rhythms. To connect with nature and appreciate that the seasons create the change we see around us, will enable us all to have the opportunity to feel comfortable with the changes happening around us in our lives and appreciate them for what they are.

Every season sees a shift, from the cycles of nature, to changes in the weather and the way we connect to our surroundings. You know it feels like spring when the blossom fills the trees, leaf buds appear and unfurl, the weather shifts and warms, and the light changes too. For me a new chapter begins at the start of each season and we gently transition between the two a week or so around each season change.

In my work as a seasonal coach the shifts of the seasons play a key metaphor and role in accepting and shaping change. These changes can feel slow and sustainable and have a familiar comfort that comes with them. The seasons themselves hold the space for the types of change to happen and can guide how we show up in the world, the stories we tell ourselves and ultimately what we feel.

I use the practice of writing each seasonal manifesto to slow down, take time to think about what I would like to invite into my life, and savour the moments of the season. For me writing a manifesto each season creates journaling prompts, sparks brilliant questions and metaphors to ponder over with those I have a coaching partnership with, and form a few intentions to help shape the season. I deliberately leave the manifesto open for interpretation as there is a wonderful power of an open ended statement that can take your unconscious mind in many directions and open up more possibilities allowing flexibility. I want to point out that when writing the manifestos they are not a list of must dos, should dos and are not goals (I’m not a fan of the word goals). The seasonal intentions are linked to nature’s cues and themes at its core. The manifesto creates a way to experience the season, reconnecting to the senses we have and realign ourselves with nature. Having a manifesto brings a more considered pace and focus into my life. I live in a city and so having this practice helps me to live in the season and connect to nature.

It’s my first spring being a mum and starting my business whilst on maternity leave, it’s a huge personal identity and life change. My Spring Manifesto is as follows…

Open up

Plant and establish roots for the time ahead

Connect to the energy of spring

Navigate the changeable skies

I wonder what Spring will bring? What I’m certain of is that there will be change, there will be the comforting shifts of plants growing, trees blossoming and the air temperature changing.