Attraversiamo with Winter and the Water Element

"Attraversiamo" means "Let's Crossover" in Italian. When I sat down to write this post, that phrase came to mind, because in a lot of ways, that's what we're doing this year. 

Astrologically, all of the outer planets except for Pluto are settling into new signs that they'll occupy for the next few years and for some an entire decade or more. With that change, the collective energy is shifting from water and earth to fire and air.

Numerologically, we are in a 1 year. Last year was a 9 year so we ended a cycle. And this year, we're still ending that cycle as we begin a new one. 

I say this all to say that we'll be a little wobbly this year as we try to find our feet in these new astrological and numerological waters. There will be moments when it feels like we're still dealing with that thing we've been trying to move past for 5 years and other moments where something new and exciting jumps into our life like a jolt of electricity powering us to move forward and fast. 

That's why I think this is a really wonderful year to lean into Water as the anchor element and energy for the year. 

In this post, I'll share how I'm thinking about:

• The energy of Winter and Water
• How I'm incorporating that energy into my life this year
• How it's going to shift my cadences. 

The Energy of Winter and Water

I talked a lot about Winter and the Water element in my last post, but here I specifically want to talk about the power of staying in a Winter season of life for a prolonged period. 

The Winter time is associated with darkness and the internal. It's a great time for deep introspection and also a time when the flow of authority is internal to external. You check in with self before you act externally. Summer to me has always been the opposite: things happen externally and you reflect on how it impacted you internally. 

Now I'm not suggesting that you become a hermit and stay in the house for the year. But I am saying that it might be a good idea or even just experiment to move through the world in such a way that your internal authority drives your external action. 

To put it plainly, I suppose I'm talking about being both intentional and discerning about how you move through the world. 

Because while we're in this initiation period with the fire and air elements, it's going to be easy for things to escalate. One second, someone will light a match and the next moment, the whole room will be lit up in flames. We're already seeing this in every level of society. I've seen it with customers lately and we've seen it on a global scale with countries quickly going from "you better not!" to "Yesterday we sent missiles and these people are now dead." 

While we're in this initiation phase, I think it's safe to assume that there is always a spark in the air. There's always the potential for a fire. And it's not potential for a fire in a fireplace. We don't have that kind of mastery over the elements yet. It's potential for an unruly, wild fire that could span 300 square miles in a matter of hours if we're not careful. 

Winter teaches us to tread lightly. It teaches us to pause and slow down so we can choose whether or not it's worth it to engage. It teaches us whether we ought to light that fire in the first place. Meanwhile, the water is there to help us subdue the fire if and when it surges out of control. But just like in nature, we only have so much water, which is why we have to be discerning about how many fires we light. We need to be sure there's enough water to put them all out if need be. 

I realize this is a rather esoteric discussion, so let me try to ground it into the reality of how I'm approaching this thing called life this year. 

How I'm Incorporating Winter and Water Energy into My Year

Here are some practical ways I'm committing to a year anchored in Winter and Water energy. 

Replace Personal Social Media with Event Apps

I mentioned earlier this year that I'm pulling back a LOT from social media [insert link] because it's definitely a place with a ton of sparks that easily turn into uncontrolled forest fires. I primarily use social media these days to stay up to date with events I want to go to that are local to me. I started using Posh and Eventbrite to follow people who throw my favorite events so now I can just check those apps to see what's happening without ever having to login to socials. Huge win!

Set Up Automations on Business Social Media

My business still has social media accounts that I post to from time to time. I'm not into the "post every day, twice a day" mentality, but if I have a perspective that feels worth sharing, I share it. One thing I'm going to start doing is sending folks who either engage with my posts and/or follow me automatic messages that invite them to enjoy my work off-platform. 

I've seen a few folks do this pretty well on Instagram and I'm going to see if I can build something similar for Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn so that I'm immediately inviting folks to engage with me in spaces that I can control instead of ones controlled by an algorithm. 

Sacred First Monday of the Month

One of my friends has a pamper day the first Monday of every month. She goes to get her hair and nails done, gets a massage, has a quiet lunch out, and then walks by the water. I've been thinking about how I can do my own version of this ritual. I'm not really a hair and nails girlie, but I love the idea of a sacred Monday. 

I have this Chinese auntie I go to for acupuncture when shit hits the fan and I need a major reset. I went to her recently to help me get over some major health issues. While I was on in treatment, I decided that this year I don't need to wait until shit hits the fan. I can see her once a month at the beginning of the month for a mini reset and follow it up with a yummy lunch. After that, time spent journaling, walking in the park, and/or napping makes for a pretty magical day for me so that's what my Sacred First Monday will be. 

Taking My Time with Partnerships

Folks who know me well know that I tend to dive into partnership. Whether it's romantic, business, or something else, I can be pretty impulsive in this regard. But this is not a year for a impulsiveness. It's not the season or the decade for impulsiveness really. It's the year and the season for the kind of curiosity that leads to information gathering. 

In October of last year, I had two separate business coaches reach out to me for potential collaborations and instead of saying "yes" right away, I looked them up. Turns out neither was an ideal partner for me and one was likely just hoping to learn from me so she could add my knowledge to her program without crediting me or paying me. I think since Neptune is now in my 7th house of partnerships, this will be a big lesson for me that I'll need to cement into my DNA while Saturn is still there helping me with the curiosity/discernment piece. 

Nourishing Water All Yearlong

Since we're new to this whole air and fire thing, I anticipate that I'm inadvertently going to start some fires and I want to make sure I have enough water energy to put out the ones I never meant to light or that I don't want to grow. That means I'm engaging in yin nourishing activities all year long. Things like walking, qigong, ballet, swimming, and generally spending time in nature feel deeply important to me this year. That and staying hydrated and taking time daily to both rest and experience boredom. 

Okay those are some of the practices I'm committing to this year. Here's how it's showing up in my cadences. 

How I'm Adjusting My Cadences This Year

Last year, my cadences were too fast and it was exhausting. 10/10 do not recommend. This year, because of the lessons I'm learning and the shifts we're undergoing as a collective, I need to have a much slower year. 

Whereas last year I felt like I needed to be doing more work-wise each day, this year I'm focused on doing the one thing each day that's going to move me closer to my goal today than I was yesterday. And that thing isn't always going to be a work day. For instance, today the thing was writing this blog post to work through my thoughts. Tomorrow it might be working on a sales page or another blog post for Lawless Lawyer. But the most important thing is being able to point to the thing I did each day to move me closer to my goals. 

Some days I might do more, but each day I'm going to move accepting that one thing is more than enough and see what happens. If you're unfamiliar with my one thing per day practice, you can read about it here [insert link]. 

If you're not new here, then you know that this is probably my big experiment with cadences this year. If you are new, you can read more about my Cadence Experiments and how I like to tinker with time. 

Let's see if I can remember to give an update on this experiment in June! 

See you next time,
B