What if you had permission to think of life differently…to think of it in a way that actually gives you permission to not live in the work-produce mode of operation that leaves you either feeling stuck or burnt out more often than you care to admit, but rather honors the natural rhythms that are around you in every day life? That’s what cyclical living is all about and it’s what I’m talking about in today’s episode.

Cyclical Living is living life in alignment with the cyclical rhythms of your body and the natural world around you so that you’re living, working and playing in confident flow rather than in oppressive fear of obstacles blocking your progress.

Having a Cyclical Living or Energetic Rhythms mindset means trusting that everything flows with a cyclical rhythm and has 4 phases, including productivity.

Productivity is typically seen in society as how much you can get done, emphasizing taking action. All. The. Time. And it’s normal to still be thinking about taking action and doing when you’re “resting.”

But I define productivity as a  4-phase cycle–consisting of rest/intention-setting, planning/growth, production/releasing, wrap-up/celebration/observation–of getting things done that honors both work and rest to do so.  If any 1 of these phases is out of balance or ignored, it impacts the other phases.

If any 1 of these phases is out of balance or ignored, it impacts the other phases.  

I often refer to these as the 4 phases of your Energetic Rhythms Cycle.

Nature communicates this with us:

• Seasons
• Lunar cycle
• Plants growing phases
• Menstrual cycle
• Natural expansion and contraction phases–when you consider your life, you likely can notice these types of years that you’ve been through

But we have a tendency to think we can do better than nature .

So we generally adopt a linear mindset, which looks like:

• • Action + Rest, and nothing in between—no emphasis on the other phases that are naturally communicated to us in nature
  • Start – finish
  • Ex: Training for something – when it’s over people either lose everything they’ve worked for because they’ve reached their goal then don’t continue the cycle again, or they do continue and push even harder and resist the natural need to celebrate, rest and reflect which ultimately leads to burnout

A better way of living is to honor your natural cyclical tendencies so you can

• • Anticipate your needs.
  • Shift out of distraction, chaos, and burnout.
  • And into optimal productivity, balance, and focus.

It’s a way of living.  You first have to find your rhythm and listen to it.

• • Follow the Lunar Rhythms/Cycle
    • Moon’s energy plays a role in how how feel (more on that in another episode)
    • Add it to your calendar! Google Calendar has an option for this.
  • Become aware of your innate rhythms or biological cycles
    • Menstrual aka Infradian Rhythm
    • Circadian Rhythms
    • Ultradian Rhythms
  • Listen to your Inner Guidance
    • I define as your unconscious/subconscious mind or inner wisdom; the intuitive knowing within you; your connection with a higher knowing or the voice of God within you calling you to act; it’s the knowing that doesn’t require thinking, but rather causes instinctive action; it can be connected with through quiet stillness.

Quick steps you can take:

1.  Plan your calendar around lunar and menstrual cycle.

2.  Create space for this way of living and invite it to be a part of how you function; the universe will naturally respond in alignment with it.

3.  Suggest when meetings take place or schedule things according to your natural rhythms.

4.  Listen to your inner guidance…if something feels “heavy,” give yourself permission to say “no” or set it aside until it feels light.

5.  Trust is the opposite of control–when you practice cyclical living, you are ultimately trusting the natural flow of events as they occur in your life.

To live in this way takes the heaviness of expectation and forced projects away from you and instead allows for you to breathe with the natural rhythms of things. 

Trusting that even if something is disappointing or doesn’t work out how you had hoped, that it is ultimately the right outcome in the cycle of life.

How to know exactly what action (or inaction) to take and when during your rhythms helps you to not overthink life or work…you know exactly when to work and when to rest.

I’m working on a tool for you to use so that you do know exactly what action to take and when depending on your own rhythms. It will be available soon, and I’ll put the link right here in the show notes when it is available.

In the meantime, if you jump over to cairnyogawellness.com/rhythmstracker and begin tracking your own energetic rhythms so that when it does become available, you’ll know where you are with your own rhythms AND when it becomes available first.

Resources:

Join the Energetic Rhythms for Intentional Living community here.

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More Episodes like this one:
#26: Tapping into Your Creative Self
#22: Revisiting Health Harmony and Happiness
#28: Spiritual Connectedness with Melissa Harris
#17: Saying “Yes” to Your Inner Wisdom – Ali Machedon
#14:  Circadian Rhythm & Nutrition with Katie Standafer Lopez

Disclosure:  Because I like connecting others with resources that I have used and found to work well in my life, I want to be completely transparent with you.  Some of the links within this post are affiliate links from Amazon; as an Amazon Associate I earn  from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. I only promote products that align with my values and with what I truly believe to work, not because of the commission I receive on them. So if you do decide to purchase something from one of these links, thank you!