Living A Fulfilling Life Following the Sacred Wheel
April 3, 2023

Living Seasonally: Spring

Living Seasonally: Spring

Following the sacred wheel means living seasonally. Tune in and see what spring has in store for us.

The sacred wheel is an amazing teaching tool that can help everyone learn how to live in sync with nature and themselves. So what is spring teaching us now? What should we pay attention to? Tune in and find out!

 

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Host Bio: Laura Giles helps people let go of what's in shadow without having to talk about it. If you're ready to let go of your limitations and take command of your life, let's connect.

 

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Transcript

I know, we are already two weeks into spring and I am just now getting into the changes that we need to be making for spring. If you aren’t already on board with living seasonally, I invite you to consider making the switch for a season and see if it changes your energy level, mood, connection to Nature, and health and wellness. 

 

That’s what Surviving to Thriving is all about - learning to see ourselves as natural creatures with natural cycles and constitutions that are best when balanced in in harmony and relationship with everything and everyone. When we know who we are, where we stand, and how we show up in the world, all we have to do is look outside to see the inside. Then, we can never be lost of confused again. It’s all in the sacred wheel.

 

Before we get into the good stuff, welcome to Surviving to Thriving! Thank you all for being here. I’m your host, Laura Giles, and each week we talk about just that. There is so much confusion, anxiety, and disconnection in the modern world, and it doesn’t have to be that way. We all have a natural, unfailing guide that we can follow in Nature. Every week, I shine a light on one aspect of that to help you find your way and make incremental shifts so you can go from Surviving to Thriving, too. If you appreciate the show, please subscribe. You can do that at letitgonow.net. There is a little button on the top right corner that makes it all so easy. 

 

So this week, I’m talking about living seasonally and this is not rocket science. I hope that nothing that I ever talk about ever seems complicated. It’s not really. If you look outside, you see inside. If you look inside, you see that reflected outside. It’s really that simple. So, to figure out what is good to change as we shift from winter into spring in the northern hemisphere, 

 

The first thing that stands out to me is that nature is waking up, right? The other day I was out feeding the chickens and noticed all the worm holes. The earth is warming up so the earthworms are waking up. They are surfacing and going about their business again. 

 

A half an hour from here, the trees are already fully green, but where I live, the buds are still pushing out. The trees are waking up. All around us, flowers are in bloom. Babies are being born. I have a bunch of puppies that were born on St. Patrick’s day. Any day now they will be opening their eyes and waking up. 

 

So, we already know that it’s time to dust things off and get moving again. If you didn’t do your spring cleaning at the equinox, I’d start with that. Cleaning out all the stagnant, lazy, energy so that energy can gain some momentum. So get rid of clutter, stuff that you don’t need anymore, if you’ve acquired some winter weight maybe shake that off, and don’t forget emotions - particularly any anger, sorrow, or frustration.

 

Spring is the season of wood and the liver/gall bladder pair is in control. When the liver is out of balance, it can cause problems like high blood pressure, digestion issues, tendon problems, and mood swings to name a few. This is prevention time. 

 

Just like the animals, we’re moving from staying indoors, being super chill, and relaxing to being outside, and having some adventures. So it’s not an all out rush and heading into full active mode. It’s more like a gentle push, or a warm up for the full heat and activity of summer.

Things like walking, hiking, yoga, tai chi, qigong, are active, but chill types of exercises that are great for spring. You don't want to be running marathons in April. That’s way out of season! Look at the pace of spring and follow suit. For instance, the trees started budding probably a month ago. I can see see the sky through the branches, so they are taking their time. Ease into it.

 

As with all seasons, spring comes with blessings and curses and one of the things to look out for in spring are allergies! Of course! How many of us suffer with allergies, asthma, Lyme disease, and colds? Yes, it’s the time when issues with the lungs are more likely.

 

So you want to look after your liver. You can do that by the common knowledge stuff like avoiding junk food, getting out and moving, and avoiding alcohol and caffeine. Those things are good all year long.

 

Green is the color of spring, so think green. Fresh, leafy greens are good for the liver. Lemons are also good. For herbs you can drink milk thistle tea, mint, or dandelion tea. Stinging nettle is a really good detoxifier as well. Lemon or apple cider vinegar in some water are great for first thing in the morning. They can get that bile moving.

 

Seasonal living is always about eating seasonally and locally. Some things that may be seasonal and available right now where you are are spring carrots, radishes, mustard greens, broccoli, beets, celery, kale, dandelion greens. We’re shifting away from warming foods like ginger and garlic, but if you’re a forager, we’re starting to get some wild foods now. I saw some wild violet yesterday. Dandelion popped up about a week ago. You might find nettles, wild onions, and mugwort. 

 

Spring is a balance of yin and yang, so don’t go all out for summer cooling foods like watermelon. Don’t forget your warming soups and stews. You want more of a blend rather than any extremes. It’s a transitional time.

 

The taste for spring is sour, so sour foods is what we are going for. There are five basic flavors and we want them all, but we’re focusing on sour right now for the liver. Spring is also about eating lighter. Winter is for comfort food. It’s time to ease up on that now.

 

One thing that makes people vulnerable to illness in spring is the wind. I know it’s getting warmer out there, but you want to be sure to protect your neck. My qigong instructor always stresses that. Carry a good scarf around until it’s consistently warm and you’re sure you won’t need it. The upper back, neck, and head have meridian points that are vulnerable to wind and cold and can take you down easily. I thought I was bundled up appropriately for the weather this morning on my hike and as I was coming out of the woods, I got hit with a blast of cold air and thought, “Oh, no!” My neck and head were not well covered. 

 

In Chinese medicine, it’s all about the flow of energy. There has to be enough energy, but not too much. It is has to flow evenly. When any of these meridians is blocked, weak, or impaired, the system becomes imbalanced. So unlike the western approach where we say a cold is a nose and throat thing, all dis-ease is an imbalance of the system. The imbalance can start anywhere.

 

As far as sleep goes, we still want to be in bed by 10 p.m. and wake up with the sun. That’s following the Chinese medicine body clock. Each organ has a two hour window where it dominates and the body’s detoxifiers are most active at night. If you aren’t asleep then, or if your body is digesting food then, if you are up worrying- that kind of thing, they can’t do what they are meant to do efficiently, so even though we have more daylight and it’s tempting to stay up late, I’d stick with the same bed time of 10 pm. and waking up with the sun all year round. This means you can sleep later in the winter, but not so much in summer.

 

And I mentioned detoxifying emotions. Spring is really vital for that. If you are living seasonally, you were taking it easy, meditating, gestating and preparing to birth something new in the winter. In order for that to come out, now you have to make some space and release old, toxic emotions. Every season has a yin/yang organ pair. The liver is yin, or feminine, so it makes sense that it would be associated with emotions, right? The liver is the one that is the most impacted by stagnant emotions and stress. So, if the liver is overactive, you can bet there is some emotional build up that needs a release.

 

The gall bladder is the yang partner that is more about making plans, decisions, dreaming, inspiration, and assertiveness. Between the two, they are priming you for the spring blossoming. It’s here. It’s now, but you can’t breakthrough if you aren’t willing to let some stuff go.

 

Now the liver is mostly known for anger, but spring is actually a good time to let anything go. That includes depression, frustration, the inability to forgive, indecisiveness, pain, procrastination, rage, resentment, unfulfilled desires, lack of assertiveness, or irritability because when your liver/gall bladder pair are healthy, guess what? The opposite of all those things happen naturally. It’s easy to forgive, you are assertive, decisive, even tempered, fulfilled, happy, inspired, joyful, passionate, and can let things go easily.

 

If that doesn’t sound like you, change your diet, change your habits. I’m telling you right now what nature is doing. Just follow what you see.

 

Another thing to be aware of is stress. Stress has a positive side. It trains our body to be responsive and ready. That’s called eustress, but all of us get way more training than we need. We all need to de-stress. Stress has a huge impact on the liver. So, if you are a workaholic, neglecting your body, your family, or your social relationships, I’m talking to you. Let something go. Find some time to just breathe, be, laugh. It is hard to be healthy and have a meaningful life without it.

 

Spring is a really good time to dive deep into your breath work practice or start one if you haven’t gotten into that yet. BUT, big warning. It’s probably best NOT to do this outside when all the pollen is flying because the lungs are susceptible to congestion at this time of year. I remember one year being so inspired by all the beauty of spring and wanting to be out in it. So, I sat underneath my favorite beech tree and did my qigong practice. I don’t have allergies so this rule couldn’t possibly apply to me, right? 

 

I was so wrong. I got sick as a dog and was out for about a week, so really. I wouldn’t do your breath work outside in the spring when the pollen is heavy. We now have a pollen report on the weather channel where you can check it. I don’t know what got me. Maybe it was mold or something, but I was out there breathing all deeply and really enjoying myself and I paid the price for that. It could have even been the wind, I don’t know, but trust me, you don’t want that.

 

One way that you can assess the quality of your liver energy is by looking at your eyes, tendons, and nails. Your nails should be strong, smooth, and have a good color and moons at the base. If they are soft, brittle, grooved, and without moons, you know your liver needs some tender loving care.

 

Your tendons should be supple, flexible, and strong. Your eyes should be clear and bright - so no yellow or red in the whites of your eyes. And your vision should also be clear. Emotionally, if you are more irritable, angry, or even engaging in fits of rage, you know your liver is out of balance and needs attention.

 

One thing that I want to point out is that an imbalanced liver can create emotional imbalance, but emotional imbalance can create issues within the liver and so the eyes, tendons, and nails too. Everything is a circle. It’s that snake eating its tail.

 

Now if you have some trouble, it could be because you didn’t do what nature called for in the winter, so you don’t have the resources. The success for every season starts with the one before it. This is where getting a boost from acupuncture or starting a qigong practice, a breath work practice or some type of holistic maintenance program can help.

 

It’s easy to look at all this and say, “Oh, my liver is out. I think I should eat more sour stuff and laugh more.” That’s good, but everything is connected. If you take a superficial look at it, you could chase symptoms and maybe the symptom is not the cause. Or maybe it’s not the most important thing. 

 

For instance, let’s say that I’ve been angry for a long time, but it’s been simmering underneath the surface. I get fired or something drastic happens and I start having anxiety attacks that disturb me enough that I go get help for that. I get some medicine for the anxiety attacks, but the root cause is the untreated anger.

 

So, in most cases pills don’t cure anything. They only hide the symptoms. And quite often, the chronic issue goes untreated, gets kicked down the road, and shows up again as another symptom that is often more debilitating.

 

Chinese medicine always has an accompanying emotion. I am trained to work with emotions and have a lot of experience with working with people with pain who say that it started with a fall, a stress fracture, or from overuse. No. If you connect it to the emotion that wasn’t released, the pain goes away. I don’t care how long ago it was. It doesn’t matter that it seemed like nothing. I have seen it over and over. 

 

We have to attend to our emotional house. The mind, body, emotions, and spirt are all connected. 

 

So, when you are realigning your own lifestyle, keep in mind that connection. Healing or realignment isn’t a linear process. You may feel worse before you feel better. Old memories, hurts, and problems may arise that you thought were forgotten. Don’t push that stuff away. Trust the intelligence of your body. Most importantly, don’t fix what isn’t broken.

 

I’ve said that anger is the emotion of the liver. I cannot tell you how many people come out of depression angry. They think something is wrong with them. They think that they are getting worse because they are so emotional, but think about it. We get depressed when we’re sad and have given up. We have no more energy or hope, so we get super low. 

 

Anger is actually an improvement. We have some energy and it’s erupting out! We’re venting all the stuff we didn’t speak about and we’re hopeful again. Otherwise we wouldn’t bother. So if this is you this spring, the goal isn’t to suppress it. It’s to channel it. Use it to release and detoxify what’s old so something new can be born.

 

I’d be super careful about doing it in a balanced and healthy way. You don’t want to create new problems. So, if I were fired and I’m angry, I could use that anger to find out what I really want to do with my new found freedom. This phase might be uncomfortable, but where I land could be much better than where I was. 

 

I sometimes hear people say, “i just want things to go back to the way they were.” I think that’s the worst wish ever! In 100% of those cases, the way things were wasn’t so great! Think about that. Don’t fight for that. Fight for something better.

 

So, if you are making changes, have done it for a sustained enough period to get results, and aren’t seeing changes, then go back to the surviving to thriving order of operations. It’s almost always a foundational issue - foundational meaning it’s a surviving or coping issue.

 

Surviving is Winter. It’s the Earth element, the physical manifestation. If you ask the body, the body never lies. That’s true when you look at the tongue. Chinese medicine can tell what’s wrong with the body by looking at your tongue. It’s a true story. Iridology can tell by looking at your eyes. A body worker can tell by looking at your body. For someone like me who works in mental health, I also use the body to find the root of the imbalance.

 

If it’s not an emotional or physical issue, it’s most likely a skills issue. That’s coping. That’s spring. So, this could be something like, “I have really unsatisfying relationships because I never learned how to share space with others. I was an only child with no friends until I was ten.” Or “I rage at people when I get frustrated because that is what my mom did. I didn’t learn how to calmly ask for what I want or stand up for myself and say no. I thought that wasn’t allowed.”

 

Learning how to get through surviving and coping (or Winter and Spring) sets you up for a great rest of your life. I mean, look at summer. Everything is lush and fertile then, right? It got through the rough, cold time of Winter. It got past the threat of being eaten or crowded out by other plants or animals of Spring. In summer we have it made.

 

So your work this season is to blossom. You’ve made it through the rough season, too. There are still hurdles to get through. Spring is easier, but it’s not a piece of cake. But with some discipline, discernment, creativity, and follow through, I think it’s going to be a pretty great season.

 

So, here is what I suggest - and this is not a diagnosis or a treatment plan, just an idea. Stop doing the things that create imbalance, like eating sugar, processed foods, artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives - that kind of thing. If you’re a couch potato, move more. If you are a night owl, slowly move your bedtime up so that your body is in sync with the sun. If you have an unhealthy habit that makes you feel bad about yourself, either stop doing it or stop beating yourself up about it. So, what I am suggesting is to stop doing the things that aren’t working.

 

Then do more of what does work. I don’t mean a whole life overhaul, just one thing or two things. It makes a difference. Make small achievable changes that you can succeed at and feel good about. Connect your actions with your beliefs.


For example, if your eyes aren’t great and you want to have clear eyes and sharp eyesight and you take herbs, do some qigong exercises, or whatever you do- I would suggest not making the better eye sight a goal, but an outcome. Focus on the process of what you are doing and relating it to spring. So it’s the beginning of spring and maybe you think of your eyes at the beginning of this journey. They are weak like a sapling or a sprout and you have to nurture them to make them strong. A seed doesn’t blossom over night. It takes time. So you nurture it. Engage in your practice every day, and delight when you see some signs of change. But you don’t stop. Nobody stops gardening when the first sprout pops up. It’s something you tend to until the plant matures and is ready to harvest. Do the same with your goals for spring or your liver.

 

That’s the problem with weight loss in this country. People do their routine for a couple of weeks and give up. Don’t give up. I wouldn’t expect to see any significant changes until summer. The body is very adaptable. We don’t usually get sick overnight and although it’s possible to get well instantaneously, it doesn’t happen often. So, allow that you’re in the majority and it will take a while. Don’t give up on yourself. No matter what the issue is. It’s spring. We’re heading into the fertile time and time of abundance, but we have to participate and have some skin in the game to get there. Do your part. Show up.

 

And if you’ve been doing that all along, Well high five to you! It’s maintenance time for you, then. You’ve got this. It’s been really beautiful this year. I don’t know if it’s just a really nice spring or I am taking more time to savor it, but I’ve been loving listening to all the birds, seeing the worm holes as they come back through the warming earth, the animals returning, and those that are being born. Life is waking up. I hope you are blossoming too.

 

Spring is the season of Air. It’s all about communication, thoughts, inspiration, and intangible things. There is so much to explore in the sacred wheel that can help us to reconnect to nature and ourselves, and I look forward to exploring that with you. If you want to go deeper, join my free, private community. Nobody is going to see what you post there. What’s said there, stays there. We’re all growing authentically and in a connected way, and I can’t tell you what a difference it makes to the quality of life and meaning. If you want some of that, join us. You’re welcome. See you next week.