The Elements & Seasons
“Each day is a journey. We come out of the night into the day. All creativity awakens at this primal threshold where light and darkness test and bless each other. You only discover balance in your life when you learn to trust this ancient rhythm. The year is also a journey with the same rhythm. The Celtic people had a deep sense of the circular nature of our journey. We come out of the darkness of winter into the possibility and effervescence of springtime.” - John O’Donohue, Anam Cara
We know the cycles of time very well; they are the very measure of our existence, and they keep our pace and cadence in life.
Living in harmony with these cycles brings us closer to nature and to ourselves. While the entirety of our lives is characterized by a birth, a maturing, and a dissolution, throughout our lifetime, we experience smaller cycles of each. When starting something new, beginning a new job, relationship, or hobby, followed by the phase of productivity, tending to, and sustaining. And ultimately again, the dissolution of our endeavors. Even if the career, relationship, or hobby carries on, it evolves into a new form in such a way that it is unrecognizable from what it was at the start. All things transform, but if the thing we gave life to happens to dissolve, we can grant ourselves closure with an appreciation for the experience and embrace the promise of what is next. Each stage of a cycle holds purpose and meaning. It contributes to the larger cycle of our lifetime. Awareness and reverence for each period enables us to continuously create through an honoring of our own nature and the flow of time.
Even our sense of self is constantly in flux. This is human nature. We are moved and molded by our life experiences, thoughts, and actions. We create an identity for ourselves, nourish it, and then let it go to make space for a new way of being. Transformation is predicated upon a cyclical movement. We are constantly evolving and coming into a new version of ourselves. As Heraclitus states, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. Everything about who we are is in constant change.”
Time is always changing and is characterized by cycles—and so are we—but we also share other attributes with the essence of time.
The nature of time and the nature of the human form are composed of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether.
When we can keep our body and mind in rhythm with the nature of time, we live in health and harmony while simultaneously supporting our spiritual evolution simply by being present and in tune with nature. We are also reminded that change is a constant factor in our lives. The outer world and our inner world are mobile by nature. To live optimally is to embrace change and live with present awareness so that we can recenter and readjust our ways of relating to life in each moment.
Every year, we witness the cycles of the seasons and how they are characterized by the qualities of nature’s elements.
Spring emerges from winter’s darkness, and with a great thawing of ice, it generates flowing waters and sets the stage for a rebirth. Spring brings with it a heaviness; this wet and muddy season is the epitome of earth and water.
The year moves into the heat of summer, the peak of productivity and growth. Summer’s sun is hot and intense as fire personified.
In the final transition into fall and winter, the windy and shorter days encourage changing, falling leaves, and dissolution. These seasons are cold, dry, and windy. Air and ether’s dry, cool subtleness can be felt in our bones, on our skin, and seen through our breath.
The cycle of our days and lifetimes also follows a similar rhythm with the elements:
earth and water: a beginning, setting the foundation and establishing structure
fire: a middle, heat of productivity and energy
air and ether: an end, closure, reflection, connection
Cycle of the Day
The day begins with a reawakening to our lives at dawn, the sun rising in the east. Our days begin with setting foundations through routines and intentions, starting on the right foot. We can take the time to meditate or move before we enter the busyness of the day.
Both sunlight and our productivity peak at midday; this is our time to be productive and engage in physical, intellectual, or analytical work.
The day dissolves at dusk for us to rest our body and mind, only to begin the cycle again with renewed vitality.
Our days come to a close with a tying up of projects and preparation for rest— time to turn off the mind and surrender to rejuvenate the body.
Cycle of the Seasons
The cycle of the year begins with spring’s renewal and a new feeling of vitality and creativity. Our summer months are active, productive, playful, and social.
Our falls and winters present the opportunity to retreat within ourselves and to spend more time within the places we dwell—a time to recover from summer’s intensity by slowing down. The rest granted in the fall and winter months makes way for a renewal in spring. There cannot be a rebirth without a preceding closure, death, or decay of some form.
Lifetime
The cycles of our lives often don’t receive the appreciation they deserve. Youth is coveted, and old age is viewed as a failure of sorts. In truth, just like all cycles, the cycles of our lives are to be celebrated at every stage. Childhood innocence is magical. Our middle-age years of evolving in our work and in our sense of self give way to empowerment and maturity. Our later years bring wisdom, a greater sense of self, reflection, and a closer spiritual connection. These years can teach us true joy, acceptance, and release.
During our early years, our lives are much like the qualities of earth—we are setting the foundations for growth through our primary focus on learning, developing ourselves, and planting seeds. We are imbued with the freedom to explore and create without having to commit so seriously to life. We learn through play. Our eyes are filled with wonder and awe of the world as we take it all in for the first time.
Our productive work years are marked by a fiery drive and ambition to act in this world, and to make our mark. We produce projects, and we reproduce life.
As we transition toward the end of our lives into a more etheric nature, we are presented with a beautiful opportunity to connect to ourselves even more so on a spiritual level, to release the ego’s demands of proving ourselves, to reflect upon the magic of the journey, and relish in the memories we’ve created and those we’ve been so lucky to have connected with. We can also realize our creativity beyond the confines of a career. Work and play become redefined and hold greater meaning and purpose.
As with all cycles, life returns to begin the process all over again.
All of it is a metaphor for our own patterns of rebirth, productivity, and dissolution, which are found within every aspect of our lives. We begin a new project, career, or relationship and see it through its course of evolution and dissolution. With each beginning and with each ending, a new possibility is made space for. Nature reminds us that change in life is normal and natural; it is part of our path. When we let ourselves grow and adapt to the changes within us and outside of us, we can live harmoniously. We often resist change and create a layer of suffering that is unnecessary. Change teaches us to surrender, continuously.
Beyond the framework of the time of life, day, or year, we also continuously experience cycles of rebirth, growth, dissolution, and endings. We grieve many things that come to pass during our lives, and we celebrate new beginnings. As Muir so eloquently reminds us—that all starts and stops, creating and dying are part of the divine order, the rhythm, and the nature of life.
Recognizing the cyclical quality of nature, we learn how to embrace and accept the natural rhythms of time within our own existence as part of the grand ordering of life. Not as something to work against, but to work with so that we can coexist harmoniously with the forces of life that are beyond our control.
Our willingness to adjust our routines through each cycle will dictate whether we meet life in resistance or fluidity. This also pertains to shifting our perspective so that we mature and evolve along our pathways of imminent change. This is how we live in harmony and freedom as we surrender to life’s flow.
Time is the framework in which we live. It is the measure of our incarnation, our human life. Understanding how to live in balance with time is necessary for living well in body, mind, and spirit. Honoring each phase of the cycles within our lives, the years, and the days increases our insight, awareness, and well-being.
The goal of Ayurveda—living in harmony with nature—is living in sync with the cyclical and elemental nature of time.
