The World Wildlife Fund and The Mental Health Organisation have published a lovely guide to making the most of every season to support mental health. It’s called Thriving with Nature.
When I saw the guide it reminded me of a realisation that I had many, many years ago. Actually, I had three realisations. At the time, I was feeling down. I can’t remember the precise reason why I felt sad. The first thing that I realised was that I was feeling miserable because something had happened that (a) I didn’t want to happen and (b) I didn’t feel equipped to deal with. It got me thinking about life and how the very nature of life is such that we can’t possibly be prepared for everything that happens to us. Sometimes, we can feel easily overwhelmed when life throws a spanner in the works and scuppers our carefully laid out plans of how we think life ‘should’ be.
Despite my misery, I somehow started to compare how I felt to the seasons of the year (this was my second realisation). We often have a favourite season in which we can really appreciate what nature is offering.
We might also have a season (or seasons) that we find much less comfortable and even unpleasant. In a similar way, we go through ‘emotional seasons’ – periods of our life in which everything is ‘going our way’ and we go through periods that can really challenge our mental and emotional endurance.
Once I had made this comparison, I came to my third realisation (drum roll)…. I realised that it would make my life a lot easier if I could change my mindset and find things to appreciate in every ‘emotional season’ of my life. Of course, this is easy to do when everything is going to plan, but much harder when things are difficult.
Now, when I start to feel down, I bring to mind all the lovely things that I have in my life and allow myself to really appreciate them. Every season has its beauty. Sometimes you just need to look a bit harder and dig a bit deeper in order to find it.
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/publications/thriving-nature
Gratitude to the author of this blog: Bernadette Culhane.
Bernadette joined Umbrella Yoga as a volunteer in 2023, and became a member of the teaching team in 2024.
