How we can use this season change to find balance

Here in the U.S. we're fully entering Winter.

For me in Santa Monica, that means that the air changes. The sky is clearer, and the sun is less intense.

Early next year it will get damp; there will be fog and it will be overcast often.

When seasons change, we change what we eat.

Summer watermelon turns into squash or apples, soups, or broths.

We might change our hobbies, too.

Or go out less, or go out more to get out of the house.

The holidays bring time with family, or more time alone. This stirs up all types of emotions. With the sun's changing intensity, we're outside less, and we get less Vitamin D.

Some people feel sad, or less energized. Some feel more grounded and cozy. Others get allergies or skin changes.

We might brush this off or not even really be conscious of it.

New forces come into our lives through the changing of seasons. If we don't pay attention, we get out of balance simply through this underlying, natural change.

Over the years I've continued to have a bit of pain in my upper shoulder. You try and rub that muscle, but what you don't realize is that the pain is actually transmitted from elsewhere in the body.

They call it "referred pain."

I learned after some time on Youtube that often this pain is associated with imbalances of posture, which causes certain parts of the body to have to work harder to compensate.

Being out of balance shows up as pain. It might just be "referred" and so we don't always accurately diagnose what's going on.

If seasons bring changes, and changes can cause imbalance...

• How will you balance having less light?
• Or being on a different diet?
• Or being around family more or less?

And if others experience that change, we can be kinder, too...

• The Co-worker who can't make it to the holiday party, or seems to be a bit more aloof.
• The person has a bit too much to drink.
• A friend you aren't hearing from as much.

We'd like to think that we've boxed and sterilized our way out of being beholden to nature thanks to the modern luxuries of heating, or supermarkets...

But the seasonality is still there, whether we choose to consciously recognize it or not.

I for one am trying to be a bit more in rhtyhm, to pick up on the changes, and use them.

In the Winter, that means bringing dark issues into new light.

Using the season's change for good.

I had a call with a client who told me one of the best bits of progress I've ever heard from someone I worked with:

He and his brother had been struggling to stay close, due to strong political differences. He decided to book a dinner for them both to talk.

They both had a long conversation, expressing more about where they were coming from, and it ended with more understanding, and can possibly serve as the foundation for rebuilding a relationship.

I told him that this was one of the most courageous/heroic conversations I've heard about in the past year.

There have to be hundreds of thousands of people who could benefit from having that conversation...

I have another client who has been working with a business partner for 3 years and is closing in on burnout because he's struggling to find joy in the work.

Now the company is funding him to take on a new role that will benefit the business and also overlap with his deeper interests.

Next year will look entirely different, because he took what was in the dark, and brought it into the light...

Simple ways for finding balance.

• For me, that means sometihng as simple as booking workout classes even though I'm traveling
• Or swapping foods for healthier, or more grounding, or lighter. (I'll probably fail here)
• It means booking time with friends, even if the holiday pressure can be about family.

So, do you feel the changes? And how are you finding balance?

Or how are you helping others during this period which can cause a different type of imbalance?

Have a great one, and be kind to people!

xx David