Holistic Healing Thought Leader: Carol Lee
The season is turning here in the U.K.. The fields are golden, the sunflowers are following the sun through the day.
My tomatoes are at last ripening. We have a glut of courgettes (zucchini) and cucumbers as usual. There are blackberries and apples, it’s harvest time.
“This time of year has a feeling, an energy all of its own.”
Fifth Season Of Late Summer:
In traditional Chinese medicine this time of year marks the fifth season of Late Summer of the Earth element. It is the time of golden light, the soft warm days of late August and September. The harsh heat of summer has passed. And, the decay of autumn not yet begun. This time of year has a feeling, an energy all of its own.
The energy of this season is one of gathering in and transition. I always liken this season to the final month of pregnancy. The baby is healthy and mostly fully grown, this time is all about plumping out. It is the same in the garden, the squashes, the apples, the blackberries – they are plumping out too, reaching their fullness.
What I most appreciate about following the energy of the seasons is how it gives me cues to find more balance and energy in my life.
Harvest Time Gratitude:
One of the biggest cues from this Earth element, Late Summer season is gratitude. I know it’s a bit of a buzz word ‘journal your gratitudes’, ‘share three things you are grateful for’ blah blah, but I believe it’s a crucial part of the creative process. So why this time of year…
“I always feel proud as punch when I pick a cucumber, rinse it off and then add to a meal”
It’s the harvest time, the time when we reap what we have sown, literally. If you are a gardener like me, you perhaps also feel, that there is absolutely nothing more satisfying than harvesting veggies from your own garden, particularly if you sown the seeds yourself.
Height Of Accomplishment:
That tiny seed that you watered and tended, became a plant, produced flowers, and then produced something edible. This to me feels the height of accomplishment; working along side mother nature, I always feel proud as punch when I pick a cucumber, rinse it off and then add to a meal. I feel a fullness and contentment on every level.
Traditionally harvest festivals are a way we celebrate, and express gratitude for the harvest of our fields and gardens; we receive the food that will nourish us through the Winter months.
Soul Harvest:
But harvesting is not just about the food we grow, it’s also about receiving the goodness from other ‘seeds’ we have sown in our lives. This is anything that starts as a ‘seed’ of an idea that we then nourish and tend with action, until it flourishes into something with an energy of its own.
- Starting and growing a business
- Digging a pond
- Learning to make the perfect banana cake
- Repairing a relationship with someone we love
- Starting a sugar-free journey
Where Gratitude Comes In:
All of the above started as a desire to grow our life in some way. It was a goal, there was planning and then action, followed by an outcome. It might not be the end result we desire quite yet, we may simply be clearer of our desire, or ready to take our next step, but we have achieved something.
This is where gratitude comes in; it is a crucial ingredient in the process of creating everything.
The Secret Sauce On How Gratitude Can Fuel Our Next Step:
A clue is in the essence of the Earth element. Just as on our beautiful planet, the Earth element represents the soil, the land, the crops we grow, so the Earth element within us is represented by our wise body, our flesh. When we drop from our head and busy brains into our body, we experience a different type of knowing, this is embodiment.
“When we drop from our head and busy brains into our body, we experience a different type of knowing, this is embodiment”
People often say to me ‘…I do my gratitudes everyday and nothing has changed’. The secret ingredient is our bodies, using gratitude to fuel change starts with feelings not thoughts. It’s exactly the same reason why affirmations by themselves don’t work, affirmation plus feelings however, absolutely do.
How To Have Your Own Inner Harvest Festival:
Start by writing a list of what you feel gratitude for…
As you do so, notice how you feel about each one, notice where you feel it in your body. Spend time reveling in the feeling, letting it percolate through all your cells. Next, create a statement that affirms how you are feeling, you could use a general statement like this one…
A Feeling That Matters:
‘I celebrate how far I have come’. Now to give the statement or affirmation extra power, tap the middle of your upper chest as you speak the words, while in your mind’s eye hold something that you feel grateful for. Tapping the body reminds us, it’s the feeling that matters.
Try doing this as a daily practice, connecting in with your soul harvest, this is not just for Late Summer.
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About the Author:
Carol Lee is a Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist, Sugar-freedom coach, Creative Kinesiologist, Teacher and Author from the U.K. She has been working in Complementary Health for over 25 years. Her holistic approach to healing and transformation is about listening to, witnessing and working with the body’s ‘knowing’.
Carol believes this is where we hold our wisdom, experience and capacity for change, especially as mid-life women. She works with women wanting to kick the sugar habit, those who are navigating health challenges, or who are wanting to up-level their life in some way; helping them to clear the blocks to success and wellbeing. She is currently enjoying her empty nest, and the freedom it brings, with her partner Jon. And she loves the coast and walking the wild landscape of South West UK, snuggling her sweet rescue cat Stevie, gardening and eating delicious, nutritious food.
