Following up on our conversation yesterday about following the seasons and knowing ways to recharge ourselves, we need to discuss the purpose behind those seasons.  We ended talking about how there is a time to let the fruit grow, a time to harvest it, and a time to let that field lay fallow.  There is also a need for the ebbs and flows we talk about.  The truth is there is more momentum generated from the ups and downs than there is from the flat road.  We need to have an appreciation for each stage of the journey because it’s all getting us where we need to be—each stage has a purpose.  Everything is setting us up for something greater.  It may seem easy or logical to give up when we are in the middle of change or intense effort that doesn’t seem to get us anywhere—and I won’t deny that there may well be a time when we need to walk away from certain things.  But we need to understand that in many of those moments, we don’t really need to give up: we simply need to recharge.

Life moves forward no matter what we do and we have the choice to move with it or to get rolled over by it—or to do the rolling over.  Before deciding to quit we need to have an honest look at the situation.  Do we actually need to stop, or do we really just need a rest?  Do we need to rest or do we need to shift focus for a little while so we can allow growth in the area that seems to be giving us trouble.  The areas that seem to be stagnant may just need to haver refocused effort on cleaning up.  Once it’s clean, then we may need to let things settle before we can move forward again.  But I want to be clear: the concept of pushing doesn’t work.  Yes, there is constant movement because nothing truly stops—there is purpose in waiting.  But going against the natural call of things causes more damage than it makes progress.  What does work is tending and attentiveness and awareness.  Purposeful movement and purposeful rest helps.

The point is to honor the need in the moment.  We can keep clearing the space while we let the creative engines recharge—in fact in many cases we need to let them recharge.  No one can be in a constant state of “on”.  Think of how exhausting that is—and how illogical.  We drain ourselves faster that way.  Throw in people pleasing and anxiety/add and it gets even more draining.  That’s a lot of mental energy and external focus to make things balance how we think they should.  Sometimes all the universe, the natural plan so to speak, really wants for us is to be clear on where we are going, to put in the effort to support that, and honor how we feel in the moment.  Knowing limits is as important as knowing how to let them go.  The most important thing is to remember that there is a time for everything and it will all happen in its time—not on our schedule.  Our job is to align and allow.  That is the fastest way for things to fall in to place.