Last week on a morning walk there was a moment, where I felt a certain quality around me, it was as if all energy was pulling back inside. I felt it in nature around, and I also felt it in me. It was a feeling of being alone, meeting just myself, and the same was happening all around. Many friends these days talk about feeling somehow low, not having so much energy, but in a context of there´s something wrong.

This was when I remembered some basic understanding of Chinese medicine about seasons and feelings which correlate with the seasons, which I met quite some years ago.

When we are not aware of this flow and the feelings that come with it, we easily might take it against us, that we don´t have enough energy, create the feeling of something being wrong. Especially as the modern world and all the media around keep buzzing and pushing people already towards the big wave of shopping which gets decorated as Christmas.

So here just a very short, incomplete overview of how Chinese medicine looks at the feelings connected with the five seasons. I start with spring. The energy goes out, into all directions, the feeling is passionate, expanding, sometimes angry, planning. In summer, the energy goes up, and the feelings are joy, ripening, dancing, celebration. In late summer, the energy spreads out on the same level. It corresponds with feelings of compassion, safety, assimilation, digesting. In autumn the energy moves towards the center, away from the outer world. The feelings are of sadness, harvesting, longing, hope. In winter the energy moves downwards. The feelings are of fear about survival, sexuality, silence, and also humbleness.
There are for sure books which express this in detail, my point was to see, how easily we can turn something natural into something against ourselves, if we judge our internal processes. If we look at our processes with understanding, we might experience a beautiful surprise. All these feelings belong to being human, and they all contribute to our depth, and they all keep moving on, like the seasons. They all make our life richer, fuller, give colors. In this way the simple flow of the seasons can become a Master for us, which shows us where we hold on to something, what wants to be seen and accepted, what wants to be let go of.

Remembering this it was immediately easier to relax with the fact, that I don´t have the energy these days to go for a two hour hike in the morning through the hills here like in summer, but after one hour I am already happy to come into the warm house again. And I had a few amazing moments of silence just standing in nature and feel how quiet it is all around. When we are aware of this, we might even welcome this quality, as a time of coming back towards ourselves. Seeing where we are without the others, without our work, without all our activities, without our plans.