Comfort in Change
Do you have a favorite spot you like to visit – some nearby nature you enjoy tracking through the seasons?
This week we have enjoyed perfect fall days.
The light is so liquid -- walking near our home in the late afternoon, the breeze and the sun wrap me up in an embrace of the perfect temperature.
The natural world seems to hold its breath and l can feel the afterglow of Fall Equinox: the day of perfect balance between light and dark, warmth and cool.
I heard an interview this week with a neurosurgeon which reinforced one of my deepest held strategies both personally and in my work with coaching clients.
In it, Dr. Gupta shared that making sure you prioritize pleasure and savoring in your life isn't a “waste of time” but is actually rewiring your brain and countering pain in ways that strengthen with practice.
In short: micro-dosing joy makes us more resilient.
It gives us energy both to do our best work and inhabit our lives more fully.
There is plenty of pain to feel in our collective human life right now, to say nothing of the losses of other species and the personal pains (emotional or physical) which come for all of us.
As I reflect on this past year, arguably the most difficult of my life, I’m surprised to notice that I’m feeling a lot of hope as we lean toward fall.
I’ve long enjoyed the changing of the seasons but in this year of recovery, the uplift has been even more potent. The shoots of spring and long days of summer tended me deeply: reminding, as they do, that new growth is not only possible but unstoppable.
This extra boost during an expansive time of year made sense to me. It seemed natural to revel in the green and the growth after the loss of so many mature trees during Hurricane Helene. Plus new life is commonly understood to be, well, life-affirming.
But the shift to fall is delighting me also, even with the arguably (or so I previously thought) somber tone of this season and its emphasis on letting go.
On these daily walks I have come to realize that it is the change itself which is bringing me comfort, along with the choice to acknowledge life’s constant transitions and to nurture my internal capacities to hold them.
The Change Cycle
One of my favorite coaching tools is called the Change Cycle, designed by Martha Beck, a Harvard-trained sociologist turned Oprah's life coach.
I've taught The Change Cycle widely in workshops and retreats and found it to resonate with people in a variety of contexts.
When navigating turbulence, it always feels better to me if I can find a framework that puts things in context. While at times I may feel like I don't know which end is up or how best to respond, there are larger patterns which hold us.
And now after a dozen+ years of coaching over 230 thoughtful individual clients through their own professional and personal expansions, I have seen first hand the power of this Change Cycle container to track our evolution.
As well as the freedom we can find not when all the external things line up the way we want them, but through a deep rooted friendship with ourselves, clarity about and fidelity to our most powerful work/gifts, and a felt sense of belonging in the natural world.
I believe this safety and groundedness is much needed medicine at the moment and wanted to share a taste of The Change Cycle, in the form of a written guide HERE. If it brings up any questions I hope you will reach out to me at cp@courtneypinkerton.com.
What you are savoring this season? For me this list includes my favorite mushroom chai, the robust purring of my fluffy orange kitten Willie Hugh, and the lazy floating of leaves from the maple tree out my window.
Courtney
PS Did you see the announcement last week about the launch of my podcast, Inner Ecology, on the Fall Equinox, Sept 22? You can find it HERE as well as on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You can also click on the image below to go to the first episode.
Courtney Pinkerton (she/her)
Courtney combines nature and coaching resources to help clients boost resiliency, avoid burnout and create their legacy work and lives. She is a is a certified Wayfinder coach and member of the Climate Coaching Alliance. Courtney holds Masters of Divinity and Public Policy from Harvard and is the author of the Amazon best-seller The Flourish Formula: An Overachiever's Guide to Slowing Down and Accomplishing More. She lives with her husband and three children on Apple Balm Tiny Farm near Asheville, North Carolina.
