7 Ways to Embrace Seasonal Living

 

For many, seasonal living is the missing link to living a life of flow and fulfillment. Seasonal living is ripe with wisdom and abundance, bringing intentionality into your day-to-day life that leaves you feeling more connected to surroundings, yourself, and the work that you do, either professionally or in your everyday.

Here are seven easy practices to help you embrace seasonal, intentional living.

1. Get Up with the Sun

In order to connect yourself with the macrocosm of seasonal living, you must first connect with the microcosm of daily living. Each day is a small representation of the larger cycle of the seasons. By embracing more intentional daily living, separate from the modern "disturbances" created by our work routines, air conditioning, and artificial lights, you're able to dip back into the flow of living with nature.

Now, I'm not saying to kiss your work or modern amenities goodbye. I'm encouraging you to begin living by the light of the sun. Get up when the sun rises and wind down when the sun sets. As you begin connecting your actions more intentionally with this daily rhythm, you'll find yourself connecting with the larger flow of the seasons.

[Related article: Crystals for Summoning the Sun]

2. Get a Plant Baby

If you struggle with seeing how the seasons affect yourself, get a plant baby to show you what it's like to change with the seasons.

Whether it's a tropical houseplant or a tree in your backyard, all plants go through seasons of growth and dormancy. And as you watch and assist your plant through the seasons, you'll be more able to connect your own experiences with the turning of the wheel of the year.

Lush green forest in Tennessee with several outcroppings of rocks.

3. Go for a Nature Walk

There's a difference between walking to work or walking your dog and going for a nature walk. Though you can do both simultaneously – a nature walk is a walk in which you pay extra attention to nature.

When you take nature walks through out each season, you are opening yourself up to observe how your surroundings change. This attention to how and when the flowers come and go, the trees change, and how the world of bugs and animals act in each season will have you paying more attention to the seasons, both outwardly but also likely inwardly as well.

Shown: Walnut Display Shelf, Rainbow Fluorite Tower, 6-Sided, Clear Quartz Tower, Black Tourmaline Chunk

4. Bring the Outdoors In

One of my favorite ways to embrace seasonal living is to bring the outdoors in. From keeping seasonally-appropriate flowers and greenery in my home to decorating with crystals, wood, and other natural objects, being surrounded by nature in my home helps me remember to live with nature and keeps me in touch with seasonal living.

Another way to use nature in your home to connect with seasonal living is by observing how the sunlight changes in your home from season to season. I especially love how the light plays across my living room and front porch in the evenings near the Fall and Spring Equinoxes. It's a special time of year I welcome with longer sits in those areas of my house, basking in this little gift of the season.

[Related article: 7 Ways to Use Crystals in Everyday Life]

A brown cocktail in a rocks glass with crushed ice lemon slice and mint sitting on a white plate on a blue tablecloth.

5. Eat and Drink with the Seasons

From Hot Toddies in Winter to Spring Beet Salads, eating and drinking with the seasons not only assists you in living seasonally, but is also better for your health, as your body's functions are connected to the seasons, even if your mind isn't.

Not only that, but eating seasonally also tastes better! Eating foods produced during their peak season gets you the freshest, tastiest, and most nutritious choices – and foods produced and purchased in their ideal season are often friendlier to your budget.

Feel free to see this as permission to dive into your pumpkin lattes in Autumn and watermelon in Summer. With every sip and bite, you're living seasonally.

[Related: View all Seasonal Recipes on the Almanac Journal]

6. Embrace Seasonal Activities

Just like eating and decorating with the seasons, bringing other activities into your life during each season will assist you in living seasonally. From water sports and picnics in Summer and cozy fires in Autumn to quiet fiber projects or book-a-thons in Winter and gardening in Spring, seasonal living gives you the opportunity to give every interest and responsibility in your life a season. And each activity will help you sink deeper into seasonal living.

Naturalists Notebook sitting on a white counter top with some small green plants.

Shown: Naturalist's Notebook

7. Keep a Nature Journal

For those ready to truly embrace seasonal living, to engage with and record each season as it passes, keeping a nature journal will sink you more deeply into a place of observation and commitment to embracing the seasons.

A nature journal is a place for you to draw or write about what you find and see in nature. It's an engaging and relaxing practice that will help you connect with nature and observe the changing of the seasons. When paired with personal reflections, over time you'll have the ability to see how you change and flow with the seasons, just as the flowers, trees, and wildlife around you changes too.

BY EMILY THOMPSON

Emily is the co-founder of Almanac Supply Co., where she loves curating products for Nature Lovers and crafting content to help folks connect with nature. Her favorite season is Summer, when she can visit her favorite creeks and spend long days on her front porch.

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