Reorganizational Healing and the Sacred Seasons part II

By Dr. Louis Abate, Network Practitioner NY

for the original and more on Dr. Abate http://www.illuminarewellness.com

In the last article we talked about the overall concept of The Four Sacred Seasons of Wellbeing*. Each of us moves through these seasons at given points in our life and each season has it’s own unique outlook on life and produces it’s own experiences.  For example, we all know that if we plant seeds in the winter while wearing a swimsuit we will have a very different experience and different outcomes than if we planted those same seeds in the spring, and wore the swimsuit in the summer.  Swimming in the ocean during summer months will produce a markedly different physiological bodily experience than if we joined the Polar Bear Club and jumped into icy waters in the middle of winter.

The Seasons of Discover, Transform, Awaken and Integrate, while they may seem to have similarities to our seasonal cycles of Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, also have differences.  The similarities include the specific conditions of the season that will dictate specific actions and structures that will produce success.  The major difference though, is that unlike the climate seasons, there is no specific fixed time period.  An individual may be in a Season of Wellbeing for a short period of time, or for many years.

The Season of Discover is usually our ‘jumping-in’ point. It is the starting line in our journey towards health and wellness. Like it’s name implies, the Season of Discover, is about discovery. It is vitally important when in this season to discover, to learn something new so that when we enter the Season of Transform we can do something with our newly acquired knowledge. It is a season where we develop strategies necessary to work with in the other seasons.

This season can be seen to correlate with our developmental years of infancy to the mid-teens. We are on a quest to learn about the world. As babies, the only way we get information is by putting everything in our mouths. Doing so we quickly learn the difference between something that is good for us and not.

In Discover we see problems and complications all around us.  This is where we look at our bodies, our relationships, business, finances, at our God and say “Why me?!” “What did I do to deserve this?!”  We are looking for external causation. If it wasn’t for the pain, illness, divorce, bankruptcy, loud neighbor, etc, then I wouldn’t have this problem or issue. The situation  is perceived as external to us and as such we would be better off without it.  It is the external problem/person that has caused us so much grief and suffering.

This is the point where most people are when they begin care with me.  Being in the Season of Discover, while it may be uncomfortable, is absolutely necessary. This is the point where we begin to see exactly how we have defended and protected ourselves in the world.  We need to discover what it is that produces pain for us, just as we need to discover what produces a successful result. In Discover we need to stop and pay attention to what our body, or life is saying.  We need to discover how to do things differently than the way we have been doing them in order to produce a successful result. We must uncover how we use our body, tension patterns, energy, breath and movement to avoid feeling those emotions we previously categorized as “unlikeable,” and the begin to feel them without controlling the outcome.

You can view the Season of Discover as something painful, to be avoided, or as something you must fully dive into. Only by diving in, being submerged can you truly see the magnificence of the ocean below. When there is something to discover in our lives we want to be fully immersed in the Season of Discover, however we don’t want to stay there indefinitely. The time spent discovering will be useful in our developing strategies to move through the other seasons.

*The Four Sacred Seasons of Wellbeing was developed by Dr. Donald Epstein