In Chinese medicine, we say that yang is always turning into yin, and vice versa. We’re always in a state of moving into something else (day into night, season into season) . A few weeks ago I talked about how if you’re not growing, you’re decaying. Along those lines, bigger transitions are now ripe with opportunity because you have the bigger energy of change around you.

During a season change, you can feel the earth and animals start to prepare for its next phase. This time of year, chipmunks store nuts, birds fly south, fruit falls off of trees. The big harvest begins.

So how does one “use the energy” to create opportunity? First, realize it’s easy to get overwhelmed during times of transition – If you’re a mom, it’s crazy shopping time: buying school supplies and clothes, making schedules for after school activities and figuring out who’s driving whom where – and how the heck you’re going to get some time in for your own work, the gym, or even a manicure! If you’re a gardener, it’s a busy season of harvesting, turning over the garden and maybe planting fall crops. If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s time to speed up the business, get more focused on transitional activities and perhaps try to juggle it all with kids or another job. Even as homeowners, we begin to think about putting away the outdoor furniture and preparing the home for the colder months.

It’s safe to say that this is a period of readjustment: moving back into your life as it used to be before you slowed down during the summer, and making plans for your next “school year” of life.

To use the energy of these transitions, you have to be decisive. You have to take action and know where you are going, what you want, and at least some actionable steps to take. You absolutely don’t have to know how everything is going to manifest but you do need to take responsibility for moving toward creating more of what you want.

Here are some tips for transitioning into our next season with power and grace. Think of this as an opportunity to:

1. Get reacquainted with yourself, your business, your goals.
2. Write out a 4 or 5-year plan. Where do you want to be this time next year, two years from now, and so on.
3. Calendar as much as you can to keep yourself sane.  This is something I really struggle with, but force myself to do with more and more success. Plan time for your work (in all its aspects), family time, vacations, “me” time. Stick to it!
4. Create vision boards. Cut out pictures, images, words that inspire you to really capture what it is you want. Look at it every day! Use all of your senses to engage with your goals and dreams and experience what it will be like to have what you are wishing for.
5. If you’re not a crafty person, go to Pinterest and create some vision boards there. It’s a great place to get ideas and get inspired. Revisit your boards frequently, doing the same as if you’d created it on poster board.
6. Look at what is particular to the upcoming season that you can look forward to. (This is courtesy of my daughter, Madeleine!)
7. Change things that aren’t working. Make a list – write it all out and add that to your goals. PLEASE do it without judgment. Just look at what’s not working and create steps to make it different.
8. Change up your exercise routine, or create one to begin with. It’s a great time to start something new, throw something exciting into the mix.
9. Take time to really enjoy the gradation of the daily changes: the gradual color change of the leaves, the subtle drop in temperature, the apples dropping from the trees, the way the sky seems to change color in fall. Fall is a very visually representative example of change. It’s pretty cool to pay attention to the nuances of it. (Think of it as a metaphor for your own daily life.)
10. Buy some new notebooks J or journals and create a new journal routine to really start paying attention to your life, your changes and all the things you love in your life.

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