Working in Harmony with Life's Seasons and Rhythms
Reflections on August + some exciting announcements 📖🌞
Nature has designed various rhythms and cycles. Your heartbeat consists of contraction and recovery. Animals hibernate and migrate according to the season. Sproutlings and plants rest during the winter before shooting out again in spring. Some plants, such as Proteas, have seeds with hard shells that require mortality—the heat from fire—to break open so they can sprout. All of these ecosystems are resilient largely because they have built-in phases for rest and regeneration.
During August, I joined a yoga retreat in the hills close to Rome and afterward extended my stay, joined by my husband, to work remotely in Tuscany, removed from the buzz of the city environment.
For those not observing – August in Italy means everything is closed.
During a morning run along the beach, we discussed what it takes for him to switch between his different modes and cultures—being energized and striving in his recently started job vs. slowing down in Italy, embracing long meals with his family, slow days, and daytime naps. As we spoke, he shared an observation: While attending meetings from the picturesque backdrop of Italy, he couldn't help but notice a recurring theme among his colleagues—they seemed to be continually circling around the same topics in successive meetings, searching for a clear sense of purpose. What added an amusing twist to this situation was their collective frustration about the apparent stagnation of progress during the month of August.
We couldn't help but wonder: Perhaps instead of complaining about projects not advancing, what if they considered embracing the natural ebb and flow of work, respecting the seasonal rhythms that affect productivity?
It became apparent that these natural moments of apparent inactivity could be an ideal opportunity for rejuvenation and reflection, allowing for a more fruitful return to work when the pace naturally picked up again.
Rather than constantly pushing forward, perhaps we could all benefit from our society recognizing the value of occasionally stepping back and appreciating the significance of downtime within the larger context of productivity.
We need to develop our linear models of living and working into those that acknowledge that we can't always race, but allow for different seasons in our lives and rhythms in our days, and see renewal, rest, and regeneration as a skill, rather than a burden.
And learn from nature’s seasons that are key to its regenerative processes and cycles of life.
How can we as humans avoid the constant hustle and make more space for different seasons and rhythms, slowing down and resting, nourishing the body and mind?
Assignment 🎨
As you start this new month, slow down and listen to which season you’re currently moving through.
Give it a name.Â
Think about what it is that you want to invite in, and weed out to embrace it.
Exciting News!
A Booklet + new offerings 📖🌞
📖 Reimagining the Nature of Work
To shift our current culture of work, we need to reimagine how we work. Together with a group of work-life optimists, visionaries, and collaborators, I co-wrote a booklet to explore new narratives for how we work and live— exploring questions such as:
Embracing life's seasons: How can we find balance and nourishment, moving away from constant hustle?
Building connection: How can we create workplaces where we belong, appreciate each other, and share our collective wisdom?
Defining new metrics of success: How can we escape the joyless rush and focus on sustainable growth?
How can we craft small rituals and practices that keep us inspired, and nourished and encourage support for each other, even when things go wrong?
In these pages of collective wisdom, you'll find practical strategies, thought-provoking viewpoints, and uncommon paths and models of those who dare to envision a future where work is a part of this great thing called life, rather than the entirety of it.Â
🌞 Stay tuned for more OOO releases! We’re excited to invite you to be a part of the journey to living a more creative life. Together, let's design a future that is centered around life, not just work— where your life takes center stage.
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this piece, and hear in which season you’re in! Feel free to share your reflections in the comments 🌻
If you’re interested and open to having a conversation on the changing nature of our work~life, feel free to reach out to me directly at hello@alicekatter.com
Thank you for reading and being here,
Alice
Love this so much! Italy and Spain with their riposo / siesta are leading the way especially over the summer months. Being in this environment puts us in this headspace too.
I’ve been enjoying the slower summer months and shared about the rituals I’m incorporating in my post that went live last night.
I think what exhausts us even more is when we resist reality, ie summer for rest and try push things forward that aren’t moving at the moment.
And nature gives us the perfect invitation for everything. Like now, starting to reflect on accomplishments, goals, dreams... and everything else we can harvest of all the seeds we planted earlier in the year. In business, personal life and most obviously farming.