​The other day I was having coffee with a friend when she was telling me how awfully cold it had gotten.  I proceeded to talk about how much I love Fall, and that it is my favorite season.  She said, “yes, it’s pretty and all but it just reminds me of what’s coming…”.

Next week will be my 24th year in the Midwest.  This is the year where I will have lived one extra year here than in Puerto Rico, where I was born and raised.  Growing up in Puerto Rico we have one long summer season all year round.  There are some slight changes, but really as a kid, teenager, or young adult, I never felt any change in seasons.

Since moving to Chicago, and now rural Wisconsin, the seasons have fascinated me.  They bring change and their own special energy, but I admit for many years I felt like my friend.  Fall just reminded me of winter. And winter was just awful.  That’s it.  Both seasons would bring me down for what they were- cold, dark, snowy, brown.  Such a dread!

Since living at the farm and being so in tune with nature, I have learned to appreciate the seasons.  All of them.  Maybe it’s also age. The older I get the more I embrace the quietude and slower pace of Fall and Winter. 

Each season brings beauty, a different kind of energy, different foods, activities, even clothing!  I know change can be hard for us humans, but it’s also refreshing and exciting.  We should adapt with the changes, embrace them.

For many years, thinking of the season ahead, I was never really able to enjoy the beauty that is Fall.  The changing leaves, the darker, longer, cooler nights perfect for better sleep and rest from the full active summer. The deeper blue skies that bring about the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  The farmer’s harvesting. The sweet apples, pears, squashes, pumpkins. The warming spiced apple cider.  

Through the years I’ve also had great winters and awful summers.  The weather is just the weather.  There are so many factors that come into play in your life and yet, we focus on what’s outside of us so much.   The seasons have taught me to look inside.  Find that peace and joy within me, not outside of me.  

The seasons also remind us that everything changes. Learn to be OK with where you are for what it is.  Even the darker colder times will change.  It too shall pass.  You won’t be here forever.

Do you feel a dread of the cold and dark these days? Is it bringing you down? How can you shift that mindset and appreciate what’s really happening and the beauty, peaceful and joyful moments of your day despite the cold and the darkness? Can you just bundle up and enjoy some time outside? Can you sleep in longer because its darker in the morning?

I encourage you to look around this beautiful Fall day and give thanks for it. Enjoy the season, and don’t worry about what’s coming.  

Who knows? this winter might be your best season yet!

It’s been a while since I don’t post on this blog.  7 years, exactly.  That’s the age of our youngest daughter.  Yikes! 

Where have I been?  Well, let’s see… since May 2016 which was the last blog post, we became full time organic, regenerative farmers and I have been managing, growing, and running the business side of things.  We have been raising (and growing as well!) our two daughters which are now 14 and 7. We moved to Wisconsin, built our own net zero home at the farm, and added pigs, chickens, lambs, and two sweet barn cats to our original beef cow herd.

I have continued to study, read, and listen (l love podcasts!) to all things nutrition, health, wellness, mindset, and spirit.  I got into gardening and have had a few successful gardens the past few years- still learning and enjoying it a lot. Most importantly, I would say, I have been learning a LOT from nature.  Farming humbles you and gives you a better understanding of the ways how nature works.  Its beauty and its cruelty, as well as its tremendous power and perfection. It is with this better understanding that my views about health have shifted a bit, or maybe a lot.  Much of my writing will be relating our human health to the ways of nature.  I will talk about lessons I have learned from nature and how they are so related to our own lives. 

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better” -Albert Einstein

I have also been growing up! 7 years made me officially a middle-aged woman. Ha! I’ve grown a few wrinkles, gray hairs, two herniated discs, and a lovely little middle age belly fat.  Embracing it all, and honestly wouldn’t change it for where I was 7 years ago.  Heck! Wouldn’t even change it for my twenties! The wisdom I have gained and the experiences lived has helped real inner peace to start coming forth.  Of course, challenges still come along, perhaps even bigger ones than before, but I needed those years to grow up and learn how to deal with the challenges, and I am committed to keep learning and growing and developing the best version of myself in the second half of my journey.

So, what will I write about? 
I don’t exactly know, except for the fact that I had an itching to get back to writing and want to share my thoughts and learnings about health, wellness, happiness, mindset, mindfulness, and ALL things of the natural world with the purpose of maybe helping others live a little healthier, happier, and at peace.  It will be a little science, and lot of experiences, critical thinking and just an honest, informal conversation.  Think Dr. Hyman + Mel Robbins, + Jay Shetty +, of course, lots of good old me!

I hope you follow and join me here, and please comment and respond if you ever want to join the conversation.  Write you again soon!