Winter is a time to build wisdom, to listen, to discern the path forward, and to make a practical strategies to implement the plans in our heart.
Wonderful Winter
Hello Beautiful,
I hope your year is finishing up well and you have enjoyed time with family and friends over the holidays. I especially hope that you make the time to get extra rest and quietly ponder what you most desire for 2025. I would like to share some of my favorite ways to prepare for and enter the new year (and thrive this Winter)….
Replenish
Winter is a time for rest. Many animals hibernate. We make extra melatonin in the darker months and this encourages us to go to sleep earlier, to sleep more….and to heal! Rather than just pushing through use this season to downshift your pace and rest more. I find, I need 60-90 min more sleep in winter than in summer to feel my best. I embrace this rather than resent it. I see this time as a chance to do deep healing on every level, to quiet my soul, and to replenish.
Nurture
While I love salads and smoothies, in the colder months, I offer warmer foods as my fare. I savor teas, stir fry’s, soups, and warm veggie bowls. I enjoy healing baths or infrared saunas most days. I dress to be cozy. I light candles when the sun hasn’t risen or set. In short, I am making life a little extra warm and nurturing. When we treat our body with tenderness and intentionally foster an environment of healing, we calm our nervous system and open our hearts.
Listen
Winter is a time to build wisdom, to listen, to discern the path forward, and to make a practical strategies to implement the plans in our heart. Spring is a better time to begin rigorous endeavors and projects. The first part of the year is about building up our energy through conscious rest and discerning, refining, and creating an actionable plan.
Inspiration
This is a perfect season to begin a new course, book, or artistic endeavor. We are partnering with the Divine design in building the magic “underground.” We can also edit our goals into categories. I like to find 3 words/phrases that encapsulate areas I want to grow in/embody and then I organize daily/weekly/monthly actions in each category.
Strategy
Every year I choose three words (themes) to help focus my growth. “Simplicity” was one of my 3 words last year. Each month, I create habits or take actions to support growth in those three annual points of focus. With daily embodiment practices, a year can provide significant opportunities for growth and change.
A monthly action I took to embody Simplicity was to de-clutter and re-organize a room each month. A weekly action was to spend 30 minutes on Saturdays going through saved notes/journals/cards/papers and decide what to keep and what to toss. A daily action was to reduce my to-do’s to a shorter list (building an hour of unscheduled time so I could have more leeway and free time.
By taking my area of desired growth (Simplicity) and building daily, weekly, and monthly actions, I made fantastic progress in simplifying my environment and time management. This is a great tool you can use to transform your goals into actual change.
I hope these strategies help you create a “Wonderful Winter” of your own. Doing less, resting more, and gaining mental & spiritual clarity are some of the gifts we can draw out of this season. Wishing you a wonderful 2025!
Cheering you on,
Rachel
ps. If you would like to work with me to help you reach your goals, get more information here: Click here for details