Slowing Down: Returning to the Rhythm of the Seasons

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on how deeply our culture has fallen in love with instant gratification. Everything is designed to be faster—our information, our purchases, our attention spans. We live in sound bites. And yet, as we speed up, we lose something vital: the ability to be fully present in the unfolding of our human experience.

This has became especially clear to me as I teach about spiritual topics such as manifestation, and cutting cords, and rituals. As well as when holidays come around I study the real roots and traditions from which they come. We have designated one day and called it a holiday, and we quickly move onto the next, particularly during holiday season. As we are now in the holiday season of 2025, when so many people in the United States and world are hurting in all ways, especially financially, I can’t help but reflect on all the changes we can be making away from capitalism which is the antithesis of slow, and restful and connected, in order to truly make a difference in the collective consciousness of human beings.

Remembering the Roots of the Season

Modern Halloween is celebrated as a single day of costumes, candy, and spooky fun. One of my favorite contemporary holidays, to be honest! But its origins stretch back more than 2,000 years to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced “Sow-in”), a sacred turning of the seasonal wheel.

Samhain wasn’t just a holiday; it was a ceremony that often spanned several weeks, even into November. It marked the transition into the darker months—both physically, as daylight waned, and symbolically, as we were invited to turn inward.

Our ancestors understood this as a time of rest, home, hearth, and spiritual renewal. In contrast, our modern calendar, which is structured around productivity and consumerism, pushes us to keep moving, to jump from one holiday to the next without pause. But the truth is, nature has always known the importance of slowing down.

Darkness as Fertile Ground

Seeds don’t germinate in the sunlight. They root and grow in the darkness. Hidden, nourished, preparing for what’s next. We are no different.

Winter invites us into that fertile darkness, a time to restore our spirit, to let our roots strengthen beneath the surface. Yet we resist this call, conditioned by capitalism and social media to seek constant movement, productivity, and validation. Even in spiritual spaces, we crave immediate results: instant manifestation, instant release, instant healing!!

But transformation isn’t a three day moon cycle. It’s a slow, sacred unfolding. True release and growth takes time, intention, and dedication. It’s as much science as it is magic, rewiring your neural pathways, tending to your nervous system, creating new patterns that align your inner and outer worlds.

Living Seasonally and Soulfully

As we face uncertain economic and cultural times, I believe we’re being asked to return to ancestral ways of being. Not to cosplay the past, but to remember what it feels like to live in rhythm with the earth rather than against it.

That means choosing simplicity. Supporting small, local makers and healers instead of feeding massive corporations. It means slowing our pace, savoring homemade bread, candlelight, and warm soup. It means letting ourselves rest, hibernate, and connect more deeply with family, community, and the natural world.

When we live seasonally, the dark months become an opportunity for introspection, nourishment, and stability, not gloom. The trees aren’t dying; they’re deepening their roots. The fallen leaves decompose into rich soil, feeding the earth’s next cycle. Nature models regeneration for us every day. Birth, death and rebirth.

A New Kind of Celebration

Instead of racing through November and December, and instead of solely focusing on what conglomerate corporations to cancel, (by all means, lets definitely do this also), but what if we approached this season as an extended ceremony rather than a consumer event?
Yule, for instance, was traditionally a twelve-day celebration of light returning to the world. Imagine reclaiming that energy—spreading warmth and ritual across weeks instead of exhausting ourselves into two days?

You could gather with loved ones in simple, meaningful ways: sharing a meal, honoring the full moon, exchanging handmade gifts, or simply sitting in candlelight together. Community doesn’t need extravagance; it needs presence. And THIS is the real way to take down corporate greed. When they no longer have us right where they want us- exhausted, poor, and apathetic, we rise into our deepest levels of empathy, compassion and connection once again.

Rebuilding Our Attention, Restoring Our Depth

Studies now show that adults have an average attention span of just 17 minutes.
We often blame younger generations for “short attention spans,” but we’ve lost ours, too. I notice it in myself scroll brain, always craving the next hit of information. Chasing that dopamine, (feel good hit).

But this season invites us to rebuild depth: to read real books again, to let thoughts marinate, to rediscover patience. Whether it’s spiritual practice, creative work, or personal growth. And depth takes time. Allow things to simmer. Give yourself permission to move slowly, to rest, to listen to your inner rhythms. Once again, this is power to the people. Soul-deep, nourishing rest is resitance!

The Medicine of Slowness and community

This winter, let’s make slowness and community our rebellion.
Let’s honor the sacred dark, nurture our roots, and remember what it feels like to be instead of produce. The world doesn’t need us to do more; it needs us to remember the wisdom of less.

If you feel called to deepen into this seasonal energy—to reconnect with your own cycles of rest and renewal, I would love to support you.
I offer both virtual and in-person sessions designed to help you find peace in your body, clarity in your mind, and .connection to your spirit.

In rest and restoration,

Jamie Roth/ Spiritual Wellness Facilitator