Here we are again, another spring equinox upon us in the northern hemisphere. Our world continues to change in new ways every day. I’m grateful that each change of the season offers a chance to pause and evaluate my thoughts, feelings, and my behaviors. Especially spring, when the light and dark are coming into balance, and there is an essence of renewal in the air. This spring, I invite you to take some time to pause and reflect with me.

In the northern hemisphere, it is the winter solstice; a time for releasing what no longer serves, developing healthier and loving relationships with our darkness, and planting seeds to grow into our future selves - our truer selves. What if we created a new tradition for ourselves where we nourished and replenished our minds, bodies, emotions, and spirits moving into the new year inspired and empowered? We don’t have to wait for the new year to implement better habits and take care of ourselves.

I don’t know if you felt any different energy during the full harvest moon on Monday, but I know I sure did. Change is in the air once again. As we continue to navigate these tumultuous times, it may be time to bring some intentionality forth and put attention on where you are heading and where you want to go, and determining if the two are in alignment.

The change of the seasons is a powerful time to set intentions for the upcoming season and the remainder of the year. What might you do to honor yourself today to set up a season of flourishing? A powerful practice is to ask yourself, “What do I need today to honor myself?” or “What can I do to honor a part of myself that needs it today?” When you ask yourself, what comes up for you? Is there any underlying message you're hearing but wanting to ignore?

There always seems to be so much hope in the coming of the spring. When spring arrives and signs of new life start to emerge after winter, a new sense of hope and possibility comes forth. The spring equinox is a great time to set or reset your intentions. Perhaps take the day or weekend to notice your behaviors and your inner states of being, and as you notice these determine what you want to carry forward and what needs some spring cleaning.

It has been quite a year for many of us. A challenging year of great change and uncertainty. As you pause and reflect on this changing of the season and the new year that is approaching; consider, how can you look forward to the future holding onto hope? This is a great time to create a hopeful view of the future and work backward to understand what you can do during this change of the seasons and in these remaining weeks of the year to create that future.

I like to pretend I’m not affected by things; it’s a protection method for me. If I don’t admit that I’m impacted by things, then I don’t have to own that I can do anything about it. Lately, I haven’t been admitting that I experience ongoing mental health challenges, and I haven’t been admitting that I am deeply affected by COVID-19 and recent events. I’ve realized that not admitting this has caused me to not take an active role in my well-being, so I am admitting it. My mental health has been impacted by recent events. I can start there and that can be enough to build upon. I can now start the smallest practices of self-care. I can start to pause my mind and check-in with my body and my feelings. I will start there and see what happens.

No matter what your experience is like through this; it is valid. Your emotions, your feelings, and your thoughts are valid, and there is space for them. During times of uncertainty and change, it is crucial for us to allow space for, feel and process the emotions and thoughts that are coming up for us.

In these times of uncertainty and challenge, it’s even more critical for us to lean into self-care and perhaps adjust our practices to ensure we are adapting to the situation around us. It’s normal to feel many emotions during these times. It’s important to allow yourself to feel, process your feelings, and work on letting them go, and it is important to set boundaries around activities that are not serving us and our emotions well.

As we transition into spring, it can be a time to pause, reflect, and evaluate what is serving our truest selves, and what needs to be released because we have outgrown it, or because it is no longer serving us. As we transition out of winter and toward spring, what can we do to prepare for a spring cleaning within ourselves?

As we approach the end of January, our excitement for the New Year begins to fade and those habits we wanted to change begin to crowd out our new desired behaviors we swore we were going to stick with this year. Maybe this year we can try it differently. Focusing on small daily actions that are loving to yourself to stay the course.

In honor of the changing of the seasons and this summer solstice, let us embrace the spark and possibility for hope, growth and changed behaviors. For the next 30 days, I will post a writing or thought prompt you can use to reflect on improving mental wellness, worthiness, and/or anxiety.