Today as my shears chopped into 2 years worth of spiky bramble growth, not only were my fingers stinging from its thorns but so too was my face as it was getting pelted with hail stones. I had red cheeks, a cold nose, sore eyes but also a surprising level of invigoration.

Working in January/Febuary conditions can sometimes be a struggle. The cold wet iciness that the months bring can create a deep desire within us to hide away or hibernate (or at least remain cosily under a blanket with a hot water bottle and a cup tea).

The months are dark and we can often find ourselves wishing for them to be over. This often leads to feelings of frustration, resentment, depression and tiredness.

I challenged myself over the past few years to try and change the way I think about them. I consciously began to try to embrace these difficult months and see the positives in them. I began to find it helpful to observe the natural world around me and its cyclical rhythms and I started to create my own rituals around this. Gardening and just being outside in general/seeing the world without looking through a screen, helped me connect with a lifestyle that I now know has an actual name – ‘seasonal living.’

Seasonal living involves us doing three things,

1) observing

What can you see around you in the bleak winter months? How is nature responding to these cold dark months?

2) learning

What can you learn from nature’s response to enrich your own life?

3) creating/immersing

What rituals/daily routines can you create in each of the 12 months to help you connect to the seasons, the world around you and to most importantly feel fulfilled and happy.

This excerpt explains far more eloquently than I ever could the benefits of seasonal living…

‘When you live by the seasons, life is simple and seems to boast a deeper sense of purpose; if nature has existed in this way for thousands of years, then why shouldn’t we? Instead of resisting what we see as complications and inconveniences – the heavy snows in winter or the sticky heat of those few summer days, for example – it’s much less complex to simply embrace the weather and seasonal patterns we are presented with.’

Seasonal living for me in January and February revolves around the following rituals…

• Planning – especially planning for my garden – what seeds I want to grow, where I want to plant, what jobs I will need to do to prepare the ground etc. I have a very handy garden journal for doing this and a seed list of the seeds I collected at the end of summer and a ‘wish list’ of those that I would like to purchase.
• Reflection and quietening of the mind – using spare time to reflect, read and write. I try to light a candle every evening and embrace the comforting darkness that surrounds it. Sleeping is so easy in winter.
• Experiencing the cold as much as possible – yes it can be painful but it is also invigorating and refreshing. Just being outside in the cold over the winter months makes the year as a whole feel more satisfying. The year feels longer (in a good way) and more enriched.

I wonder what seasonal living rituals you consciously or sub-consciously live out…

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

(Rachel Carson)