As the circle of the seasons turns once more, we can all begin to feel the shifting of the natural world around us. Longer nights, colder temperatures, bare trees, a weakening of the sun energy, and an increasing desire to cuddle up in the warmth and comfort of home.

Are you moving with the seasons, allowing it to influence your choices, your food and your daily life habits?  Or are you mentally clinging to the disappearing bloom of the warmer months, of lighter clothing, of outdoor dinners, of chilled wines and light meals? Perhaps it’s just ‘business as usual’ for you, with no plans for change at all to accommodate the changing natural world around you?

The Winter Solstice on June 21^st heralds the true arrival of Winter.

For those still connected with nature, Winter is a time for moving inwards, for contemplating more and doing less. It’s a time for drawing your energy in closer to yourself, for knitting, for having baths, for writing, for nurturing yourself through warm hearty meals, for diving into interesting books, and broadening your understanding through thought provoking movies.

Winter’s gift is that it brings us closer to our subconscious selves – the part of you that is really responsible for the life you’re living. For many, the subconscious narratives that are manifesting as your life were placed there by other people in the form of inherited belief systems and rigid perceptions about the world around you (and even what is possible for you within it!). Parents, school, television, magazines, religious and community groups, friends, relationships, and life experience have all combined to create a powerful framework for manifestation that you have personally had very little direct input into, yet are living out daily nonetheless. Take this opportunity while the nights are longer and the world becomes quieter, to look into yourself and examine some of what you find there. Trace the roots backwards in time to where that notion came from and decide for yourself if it supports or suppresses you.