The Four Seasons of Well-Being

Throughout our growth, our well-being evolves in cycles, much the same as do seasons. Winter, spring, summer and fall dictate our activity and due to the conditions of each, only certain actions and behaviours are successful. Winter is for resting, spring is for planting, summer is for tending to growth and fall is time to harvest. If we try it any other way we will meet hardship.

In our lives, according to Dr. Donald Epstein, the Four Seasons of Well-Being are Discover, Transform, Awaken and Integrate. There are similarities and differences between these seasons and nature’s seasons. They are similar in that there are specific conditions that dictate the actions and behaviours necessary for success in each season. The difference lies in the fact that the seasons of well-being have no fixed time frame. You could stay in one season of well-being forever whereas nature’s seasons flow in a regular cycle over time.

Discover, the first season, is the place in which we start by default. In Discover, we want to learn, uncover or find some important and vital information. This season involves developing an understanding of the body's movement, its energy flow and how it allows the flow of breath. We learn how we have controlled these factors with posture and tension to numb our experience and protect ourselves from pain and suffering.

We fully enter the second season, Transform, when we develop the strength and courage to begin doing something about the situations we were protecting ourselves against. We are motivated to take action to move away from what we don't like and towards a goal or something compelling that we do want. Because we know how we have sustained pain in Discover, our efforts in Transform are successful at moving us towards our goal.

Awaken is the season in which we experience ourselves as souls. We experience connection, love and gratitude. It is the third season and its true experience really comes when we have no attachment to past traumas and no need to prove ourselves. We have no more sense of ourselves as people, roles, jobs or accomplishments. Our purpose is connection, service and growth.

The fourth season, Integrate, is experienced once we have a good understanding of how life works in each of the three prior seasons. At that point we become able to consciously combine the gifts of two seasons to uncover the learning, create the outcome or deepen the level of service we are called to experience.

While we may have aspects of our lives that match each of the different seasons, the majority the way we are living will resonate with one. When we respect where we need to be and do what the season calls for, we successfully gain the wisdom of the season we are in and can move on. Failure to do this causes pain. Learning the strategies necessary to move through each season will lead to the ability to integrate all the seasons into a happy and fulfilling life.