It’s that time of year, the days are getting so much shorter, the weather is more inclement and if you’re anything like me the pull to “hibernate” now is strong. And while we humans don’t hibernate the way bears and squirrels do, in times of old we’d have allowed things to slow down markedly at this time of year, not least as the elements required us to stay home and close to a source of warmth. That’s what I mean by hibernation in the context of today’s blog, slowing things down, doing a bit less, conserving our energy.
With modern advances like better clothing and better lighting, and more recently with the advent of an “always on” attitude, most of us don’t take this seasonal invitation to slow down. So I wanted to talk today about the value in hibernating a bit, and a concept called the Law of Gestation, which maybe helps us to see the value in letting things take time.
On a very practical level this year, with a global pandemic and local restrictions on movement limited to 5km in Ireland currently, the idea of hibernating is very aligned with what we’re being called to do anyway. It allows us to draw inwards, keep our circle of contacts limited and thereby keep everyone safer.
Hibernation also offers the opportunity to conserve energy and perhaps catch up with special people or interests that have somehow been neglected of late, even if we do it virtually.
In the wider context of dream building and change making, however, this message is not about doing nothing! If you’ve been working with me or following my blog, chances are you have a vision for your life and results you want to create. The advice today is not about giving up on taking right action to bring about those results. It’s more about sharing with you the wisdom that it’s not all about pushing for an outcome all the time.
The Law of Gestation states that “there is a period of incubation that all seeds need to grow before they can be harvested. Our thoughts, desires and goals must mature over a period of time before they are manifested into our reality. The process takes time and patience before the universe delivers the outcome.” ~David Curran
When you’ve created the seed of your dream therefore and planted it, the laws of nature and the universal law of gestation require that that seed has time to develop and grow before it can sprout and then bloom.
That’s what’s happening in the fields and gardens over the winter and early spring, plants are developing their roots and shoots in order to burst forth in the spring.
So what can you do to nurture your dreams at this time and allow them to gestate?
Keep creating the right conditions for them to grow!
Manage your mindset – absence of evidence (of growth) is NOT evidence of absence. Keep your attention and your intention on the results you want to see created, not on what’s missing at the moment
Take right action – do what you can from where you are with what you’ve got! Take the action you can take, focus on the small things you can do, daily and weekly, and let the rest take care of itself
Never give up! – Instead, celebrate this stage, knowing that it can’t be skipped! Honour the need for a period of gestation and remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Invitation
My new Programme, Radical Wellbeing – 4 weeks to a Brand New You is commencing on Wednesday next, 18th November at 8pm BST and continuing on the following 3 Wednesdays. Designed to support you through lockdown and create the wellbeing building blocks to enable you to blossom in all areas of your life, we’ll have four one-hour group coaching calls to develop each of the four dimensions of full spectrum wellbeing: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Calls are one hour per week with a supplementary worksheet to support experimentation and implementation of wellbeing strategies each week. Available on a pay what you choose basis. Find out more and join up here.
Cover Image: “Bedtime Stories, Girl with kid, bear, fox” by Jessica Boehman