How nice it is to be enjoying some pleasant sunny days. As I look out of my study room window and take in the view of the garden, I notice that nature's landscape is changing. There are patches of yellow flowers beginning to break out into the early flourishes of Spring and the trees and hedgerows are becoming fuller with new buds and shoots, the grass looks greener and the birdsong sounds chirpier. It is hard to believe that just a couple of weeks before, the same garden was completely covered in a blanket of crisp white snow and the view from the window was quite different to now. The view today makes everything that I spy seem awake, alive, and ready to burst into the next stage of growth and being.
The recent contrast in our weather has gifted me with different emotions. Being in lockdown when it snowed allowed me the time to fully appreciate the visual beauty and silence that the cold snowfall offered; I felt a sense of calm and I chose to breathe in the stillness as I enjoyed the winter landscape from my room with a view! Now that nature is preparing for the next seasonal change and the birth of spring is in the air, I find myself enjoying a sense of calm in a different way, it is a sense of calm that feels at peace and it is more energised, almost a sense of being on the cusp of the unknown. I am intrigued to see quite how the garden will change in the next few weeks and how I will embrace the impact that it has on my sensory fibres.
The seasonal changes in nature are like the changes that we experience as people. We experience change according to our external environment and how we internalise and respond to our environment impacts on how we think, feel, and behave. Winter has given us magical moments of snowfall but also dull, wet, windy, and desperate days and now some sunshine too. Each of these changes in the weather dictate the temperature and colour of the world around us and this can affect our mood and motivational spirit. Allegedly, a ‘typically British’ conversational starter is always to talk about the weather, but for me it is a natural element that is synonymous to the highs and lows that people experience as part of life’s challenges. Sometimes mentally and physically the metaphorical dull, wet, windy, and desperate days become too much and our thoughts, emotions and how we behave can feel overwhelming. I cannot remember a time before the pandemic when people have been more desperate for sunnier days and a positive climate. It is not always easy to be ‘in the present’ or to be patient, or to be mindful because we each feel, behave, and experience things differently.
Hypnotherapy, counselling, and psychotherapy are talking therapies, and it really is good to talk, it allows us space to off-load, problem solve, discover, and make sense of whatever it is we need to make sense of. We have become used to talking behind a mask, at a distance, on zoom, but we have sadly been deprived of meeting up with friends and family to talk socially and in person. As we head out of lockdown, the last remaining weeks of the ‘stay at home’ existence I believe are ones to savour, ones to take in and appreciate the beauty of our world around us. The sunshine and gardens are nature’s own gift of mindfulness and hypnotic space to enjoy. Notice the textures, the colours, the fragrance, the shapes, the sounds around you – when we look, we don’t always see, when we listen, we don’t always hear, and when we touch, we don’t always feel. All of what you see before you, is unique to you, how you process and interpret the information stimulates how you think, feel, and behave; it is your experience, your response, your savour, and your emotion. Much like the weather and the transition from one season to another, we too have our own mental and emotional seasons of change that make us who we are, each of us individual! Just like the landscape is getting ready to flourish, you too can internally and externally enjoy this season of change, and savour the thoughts and emotions that this presents within you as you prepare to bloom and look forward to socialising freely again among the therapy and wellbeing of friends and family!
If you are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, stressed and/or in need of support, I am now taking appointments for when we come out of lockdown. Sometimes, what we experience and how we think, feel, and behave is difficult to manage by ourselves. Hypnotherapy, counselling and wellbeing can help you.