Sustainable Growth

Let's talk about growth, goal setting, and resolutions, as it is the 'New Year' after all. Each new year I am taken back to being a young adolescent with my father asking me for my new year 'resolutions', they feel like they have such a heavy weight, but here are a few tips to keep them light, simple, achievable and sustainable.

Humans are a part of the natural world, this means that we can take the inspiration from the world around us to help us grow and continue to thrive in what we love. Here are some tips from the 5 Elements of Chinese medicine to help you grow sustainably in your goals.

The trees grow directly towards the heavens, this gives Wood its direction and vision

Wood - Set small goals to reach a bigger goal.

It's easy to dream big and see the great destination of reaching our goals, but only seeing the big picture can be a bit overwhelming. Feelings of anxiety can easily cause us to stray from our goals and stay within our habits, as the sheer thought of accomplishing our big goals overcomes the positive outcome of reaching the goal itself. Fears around achieving/failing can also step in here and lead us astray. Taking smaller steps is more sustainable for our growth, energy and mental health.

• Break your giant big dream goal down into bite sized pieces

• Aim to reach a small goal every month/3 months

• Remember we can only do our best, and that changes every day

• Make a creative expression of your goal as a daily visual reminder (drawing/painting/vision board)

• Check in every season to make sure the goal is still aligned with where you want to go! Remember we can always change our path!

The light of many candles is brighter in numbers, the same is for humans and all on earth

Fire - Give & receive support.

Finding a good friend to keep you accountable irreplaceable. Doing things as a community is what humans are built for! So find a friend who is on a familiar page to you and make an agreement of accountability with each other. Create communication guidelines so that if the tough times come, you have great ways to communicate what's going on. Remember you get to support each other! So the giving and receiving is in reciprocity ❤️. Many people also find regular appointments with a chosen health practitioner can help them stay on track and on the rise to their goals. Remember sustainable growth comes from working together as a community.

And remember, things that come from the Heart are always easier than what comes from the head. Remove the words 'should' and 'have to' and replace them with 'choose' and 'I get to'!

The Earth’s stillness shows us that anything can be created from a peaceful place.

Earth - Take a grounded approach, employ the mind.

When we are inspired it is easy to go above and beyond! Take the time with yourself in a quiet and peaceful place and sit in the silence for a while. Find in this space the reasons why you truely want to achieve your goals and journal it down in a safe place. Allow yourself to get vulnerable with yourself if necessary, generally we have deep emotions that drive our actions, some in our favour, some not so much.

Remember the mind is to be employed by us, not the other way around. Finding more quiet, still and peaceful moments during your week to still and calm the mind, it's like a massage for your brain! The earth teaches us slow growth is sustainable growth.

Metal teaches us the abundance of moving through life with open palms

Metal - We need to empty to fill

One of the first rules of energy and the universe, creation does not come without destruction first. This sounds a little scary, but we need to chop the tree down to make timber to build a house right? Destruction doesn't have to be scary, it can be alchemy, transformation, change, but whatever you want to call it, we have to give first before we receive. Something must die before it can be reborn. But what does this mean when creating habits or new goals? Well we first must get rid of an old habit. We can’t hold everything in the world, so continually filling our cups with activities, etc is not so sustainable to growth. We need to create space for new life and creations to come into our life, so we need to get rid of some things we no longer need to create that space. Swapping old habits for new ones is a great way to change your lifestyle. Just remember the virtue of patience, many say it can take 40 days to break a habit and to create a new one.

The water’s great strength arises from its softness

Water - Face Everything And Rise

Face, Everything, And, Rise. F.E.A.R. The big 'F' word! This one often stops us in our tracks when it comes to change, growth and progression. As stepping into the unknown and the comfortable life we knew can be a little scary. Fear can come through in many different expressions here. Actual physical fear and trembling can arise, excuses and reasons as to why its better not to grow and stay as we are, anxiety, escape, all of these things can be an expression of a deeper fear rising its head. Poking the dragon takes great courage, and befriending it will be your greatest ally. When these moments of fear come up during the moments of change and friction we have two options:

1. Face Everything And Rise, or

2. Fear Everything And Run.

The choice is yours, and remember fear loses its power when we look it in the teeth! As we take the small steps, we battle one fear at a time and grow sustainably within ourselves.

Remember we are never alone, we are always supported and if times get a little tough or challenging, turn to nature as she has all the answers (and you'll find them within you!).

I hope these tips help you this year to grow sustainably, to change and adapt as you need to, and maintain harmony, health and balance within your life and health.

If you'd like to hear more of the inspiration of Chinese medicine, or would like come to one of my workshops, please sign up to my mailing list to stay up to date with nature and her cycles!

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