The Realism of Manifesting Through Identity Alignment:Planting The Seeds of the New You in the Spring

You’re not Failing at your Resolutions - You might be forcing growth in different seasons. Learn to trust the flow, and know when to Just Start

We find ourselves in this crazy, insanely Aries filled fiery spring energy, really feeling the year start to take off. I hope like me you’ve taken some time to integrate last year’s reflections through winter, and set some intentions for this year and the big chapter going forward. 

In late January I wrote about how we can be in alignment with the seasons and our bodies' natural rhythms rather than pushing against them. Honoring our own periods of slowing down, or feeling like we’re stuck as “winterings” - or a sacred pause. This concept of course, can apply regardless of what season it is, although it can apply heavily in winter, as well as spring, when we might be feeling residual stagnancy from winter’s stillness. 

If you read my piece on wintering or saw the YouTube video, my other hope is that you eased into the year - or even your most recent period of feeling stuck - with stillness, sitting with whatever was asking to be sat with, and shifted the mindset from blocked, to integrating what hasn’t been processed yet. 

Perhaps you still ended up where I was years ago, forcing growth in winter, and just like everyone who starts a new goal, diet, lifestyle, or fitness routine after new years, have been finding it hard to stick to, or gave up in February—unconscious to the idea that it simply wasn’t the time for forcing ourselves to grow. 

In pagan traditions, the winter holds an especially potent significance for integrating. The Celts practice the holiday of Imbolc at the beginning of February, the halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring equinox. The word Imbolc means "in the belly of the Mother," because the seeds of spring are beginning to stir in the belly of Mother Earth. As an animist, I also see it as an allegory for the womb of winter, and the way stillness helps us prepare for our growth season in the spring. 

In my Norse path, we have Disablot. Dis (Feminine goddesses/ancestors) and Blót (offering). This period goes from winter nights in early November, through winter solstice, to early February or sometimes March. This is a time of deep reverence for feminine ancestors, goddesses and spirits, and common rituals in both Disablót as much as Imbolc are Food and drink, feasting, ancestor veneration, as well as walking in nature and self contemplation. 

These old traditions give us some great context into how we can see the winter as a time to set intentions for the year, yes, then let them germinate in mother earth’s womb of winter. So if in the last few months you simply felt drawn to sit on your ideas and goals for the year and hold them close to your chest, let me assure you that’s okay.  

And just to be clear, I actually started writing this in February, then got so caught up in other endeavors that I barely wrote or recorded video content for over two months, because I got caught up in some pretty big challenges and personal inner work, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I took time to sit with my own wintering. You may have to look somewhere else to find a writer or speaker who’s always pumping out new content. I’m first and foremost, an animist who flows with the seasons—and sometimes that means I let myself slow right down entirely. 

I tell you this because I used to worry massively about whether I was “there yet”, and as I channel this energy update going into mid spring, full of Aries and fire energy, there’s one central theme that’s come up a lot. 

Taking action no mater the stage we’re at. 

We need to give ourselves permission to suck at things at first. Sometimes the fear of what those we’re close to will say when our idea is still small, or the fear of not being as good as we eventually dream of being yet - can be the very thing that prevents us from trying at all for a long time. 

The stillness—action Paradox 

The trick is, it’s important to be aware of consciously giving ourselves time to sit in our phase of integrating life’s changes, and knowing that it can be easy to get stuck there if we don’t make the choice to start moving forward again. 

I used to think that if I sat in that stillness long enough, eventually I’d get motivated again—but motivation is fleeting, and can be disrupted by the slightest excuses, bad days, or stormy skies. 

Early on in a plant’s life cycle, a gardener will show up to water it, say kind words to it, and give it love and attention, because they know that there is growth happening under the soil that no one on the outside can see. Then one day, when it finally breaks from the dirt, it begins to shoot up and grow fast—but the truth is that it was growing the whole time. It was germinating, sprouting from the seed, and growing roots. So let go of the idea of sprouting and being a thriving tree just yet. And be in the present moment of seeding, and rooting. 

This is why in my wintering piece, I highlighted how important it is early on in big life changes or in between different phases, to be patient with ourselves. To remember that early on, it is simply about showing up consistently and making small yet deliberate, disciplined actions. 

To discern motivation from doing things when we feel good. Because at this stage, you’re growing in the darkness of the unknown, and uncomfortable. And when you show up for yourself whether motivated or not, regardless of the sun lighting you up with good days, this is when you will grow a deep root system and solid foundation to thrive from. 

Learn to Enjoy the Journey

I spent years studying kinesiology, being a personal trainer and wellness coach, only to find out that goal setting has a weird duality. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it makes people put the goal on a pedestal so much that they forget to be grateful for little changes and enjoy the journey of who they’re becoming in it along the way. 

We’re so disconnected from our seasonal rhythm, while being conditioned to look a certain way, programmed by productivity and fitness culture to strive for constant progress and a trim body,  that we forgot what winter is for. Stillness, self reflection, and maybe gaining a few pounds over the holidays while enjoying the boxes of chocolate and feasting with family. 

To be fair, going back over the centuries, our ancestors weren’t shaming themselves for gaining 10 lbs over the Yule season and winter festivities, they knew they enjoyed the time with loved ones and the weight would fluctuate with the seasons. So part of it is letting go of the pressures popular culture puts on us, and reminding ourselves that we don’t need to constantly strive for perfection. 

Heaven forbid we gain a few pounds and don’t lose it right away after the holidays. 

The other part of it all, is that the issue isn’t goal setting, it’s when we don’t take the time to ask ourselves why we’re doing it at all, and who we’re doing it for, and who we’re trying to become. Identity based goals will stick over outcome based goals every time. 

So for the sake of the most common new years resolution which I’ve mentioned, I’m picking on January fitness and diet culture. 

The point is, you can have a well mapped out goal, but if you aren’t stopping to ask yourself, why do I want this?

 If you aren’t prepared to answer the question Why the fuck am I doing this? - When things get hard, then you’re going to fall off anyway. 

It’s not about having this arbitrary goal of a certain weight lost, or some arbitrary progress in our hobby. 

It’s about how we see ourselves. The goal could be to re-shape your physique after winter, read a book a month, write a blog every week, or finish a new craft project in record time. 

I challenge you to shift from seeing these goals as being related to tasks you previously barely did and thus get stagnant over and over because you’re putting your happiness on a goalpost of finishing the thing - to imagining the future version of you who does those things simply because it’s part of who you ARE. 

 Seeing yourself as someone who simply moves your body in some way daily, reads even a few pages every day, writes even a few paragraphs or does a little journaling every day, or spends even 10-20 minutes working on your hobby each day. Soon the goal ceases to matter, because it becomes less of a happiness driven outcome, and more of a guaranteed byproduct of living the lifestyle you commit to. 

Here are some things you can do to be in alignment with the seasons, going with the current rather than against it

Ask yourself - Who do I want to be this year, and going forward into the next 9 year cycle? 

This is about telling the universe who you are becoming. 

Don’t try to take on 5 new habits or projects at once. Think of one or two clear things you wish to become, take some time to imagine them very clearly. 

If you need a little help narrowing this down, what excites you the most right now? 

And what are one or two simple things you can do daily that will make that happen? 

I don’t care if it’s about launching your small business, having a better connection with your partner, learning a new skill you’ve always wanted to be great at, or being able to run your first marathon. 

Pick what excites you the most, see what will help you come into alignment with it, and do that every day until you can take it no further, or until it becomes do-able to take on the next thing that excites you. 

Take this one step further if you’re so inclined. With this practice from Lyfjaberg: An inner union Rite up Healing hill, my book I’m currently writing on Nordic animist healing practices:

Planting the Seed of the New You

This is about understanding that the universe and nature are SO intelligent, that within a seed, contains the entire potential of the universe, and the tree it could grow into. Just like from birth, within our DNA, our genetic coding holds all of the beautiful human we will grow into. 

—The task is to sit and imagine what your ideal life would look like at least a year from now. Don’t leave anything out, and don’t get caught up in what's realistic, that kind of thinking will let your ego take you out of the quantum realm and stick firmly in playing safe. 

Where do you live, what do you do for a living, what are your closest relationships like?

What brings you joy about this reality? 

The importance of this is to name all of the emotions in this reality, because your body doesn’t know the difference between what’s real and imagination, it just knows what you feel and think about. Then, in planting that seed and handing it over to divine intelligence, letting go of the exact details of your vision, write out a simple routine of what it would be like to consistently show up and water that seed. 

Pick even one or two things that you will commit to doing over the next few months, trusting that sometimes the growth that comes when no one can see it, Will go towards the life you envisioned and the intentions you placed in your seed. 

Make it a little nature ritual

Now you can stop there. But If you’re the type of person who really benefits from symbolic practices, I invite you to take some form of seed, speak the intentions of your vision and your new routine into it, plant them—give it to mother earth to take care of and support you, and let it be a piece of nature magic. 

The beautiful part here is remembering that magic is not merely expecting a miracle or a quantum leap to happen with no effort. It’s the relationship between setting intentions through symbolic and often holistic practices, and meeting the universe halfway with consistent action. When you do this while trusting the process, the magic happens then the universe meets you half way, and you begin co-creating together.