Something beautiful about living in a new place, with a slightly different climate, is learning the natural flow of things. It isn’t intuitive to me yet, it is different, novel. In Mexico City, I knew which skies meant rain and which just threatened. I knew that a few apocalyptic-style storms would likely come in April or May followed by a pause before the real rains arrived. I knew when the hummingbirds passed and in which months the moon was brightest. In my new home, I am watching keenly, trying to learn. I notice that the sun seems to move back and forth along a small section of the horizon during sunset, so far never entirely getting lost behind the land of the undulating coastline. I observe the animals that pass through the bay before migrating on. I watch the trees at sunrise and see if I can predict how calm or rough the ocean will be on my morning walk, by the rustle of the shimmering tinsel-like leaves of the palms. I am, I guess, trying to root myself here by following nature’s lead.
This brings me on to a tradition that every year I find stranger and stranger. Does anyone else find it ridiculous that those of us who follow the Gregorian calendar, begin our year in January? That we make resolutions, plans, set lofty goals and aim to get them going during the deepest darkest of winter (at least here in the Northern Hemisphere…and during mid-summer in the Southern, which isn’t much better). To me it is the surest example that we are entirely out of touch with nature, its natural ebbs, flows, contractions and expansions.
For a few years now, I have been saying to friends that my year doesn’t start until the spring equinox, and the beginning of Aries season. That makes so much more intuitive sense to me. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, the chick breaking free from the egg, and Spring is a time of blossoming and new birth. So, March 20th(which by the way, I have noticed, is often a day when we have a little earthquake in Mexico, as if the earth is also rumbling back to life after a long winter) marks that transition from the old year to the new for me. I feel so much more inclined to start things at that time, so much more energized. That is not to say I am doing nothing in January/February, but it isn’t the time I am trying to start something new, trying to birth a new project or over-expending my energy. It is more a time for finishing up projects, editing, percolating, imagining and casually trying out ideas in my mind.
I mention this, not because I think everyone should do the same, but rather because as creatives I think it is important to really listen to our natural cycles. There is a lot of external pressure to always be productive and I am not sure creativity thrives there. For me it thrives from a space of…well…space, expansiveness, of deep listening, of intuition, devotion, not of force. So that’s why listening to where you are at, honestly and with curiosity is important for any creative person. Are you procrastinating? Is it Writers’ Block? Or are you simply pushing against your own creative instinct, which is to rest into the subconscious for a while, or take a pause?
Granted, this can be very hard to tell at times (and hard to do when we live in a society that no longer appears to value the flaneur). But, if you have gone through plan A, B and C to try to push a project forward and it isn’t working, maybe check in and see if you are pushing against something, maybe your project has something to say if you give it a moment and listen.
I’d love to hear about any cycles you have noticed in your own creative work. Do share in the comments.
Recommendations
A couple of resources on following writing and life cycles
Podcast: Katherine May speaks about how Wintering replenishes us in this wonderful episode of On Being.
Course: For those interested in using their menstrual cycles to find more ease in their writing life, Nicole Gulotta has an interesting course to help you dive deeper.
Mentoring
I delight in mentoring writers. There is something truly special about watching the writers I work with grow in confidence, rebuild their writing muscles and quieten that inner voice that tells them they can’t write.
Writing is magic and I truly believe that in writing we are trying to answers the questions we have about life on the page. I am so grateful when I can be a conduit in guiding my clients back to their inner storyteller.
If you would like support with your writing, please book in for a free twenty minute consultation, or learn more about my mentoring, to see if I am the right person to help you.
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