Change your habits and behaviors throughout the year to align with the seasons, rather than sticking to the same routines year-round, as this mirrors ancestral practices and can reduce modern-day stress and chronic disease.
Learn to find and trust your innate wisdom and intuition about how you need to live, as this truth is already within you but often suppressed by cultural teachings and external prescriptions.
Reduce reliance on artificial lighting, heating, air conditioning, non-seasonal food, and stimulants like sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, as these disrupt natural circadian rhythms and contribute to chronic stress and disease.
Incorporate a practice of stillness into your daily life, even for just 3-5 minutes, through activities like meditation, reading poetry, or walking without distractions, to foster self-awareness and self-value.
Actively create and protect downtime in your life to sit in stillness and internally reflect, as modern society often erodes these opportunities, leading to reliance on stimulants and numbing behaviors.
Avoid excessive artificial light after sunset to prevent melatonin disruption, and conversely, seek more bright natural light during the day, as modern indoor living often darkens our days inappropriately.
Implement the “Feel Better in Five” framework daily by dedicating five minutes to your mind (e.g., journaling, breathing, nature), five minutes to your body (e.g., movement, dancing, bodyweight workout), and five minutes to your heart (e.g., human connection, gratitude).
Recognize that the body operates cyclically with subtle ebbs and flows, and allow changes in your body and routines to happen slowly and gradually over time, rather than abrupt, binary shifts.
Make communal eating a priority, as sharing food is a powerful bonding, trust-building, and connective human experience that has been eroded in modern society.
Establish a rule of no electronic devices at the table during mealtimes to reduce distractions and encourage more present and connective family interactions.
Gradually involve family members, especially children, in the process of getting food from the market to the table, including cooking, to foster family bonding and connection to food sources.
Visit farmer’s markets or local producers with your family to learn where food comes from and meet the people who grow it, fostering a deeper connection to your food system.
Ask yourself “what do I actually need?” and “am I eating because there’s food on my plate?” to slow down and connect with the actual experience of eating, rather than just consuming.
When feeding children, ask them “how does it feel?” and “are you satisfied?” to help them develop an awareness of their own body’s signals regarding hunger and fullness, rather than relying on external rules.
Shop at local markets or farmer’s markets and choose foods that are available locally and regionally, avoiding out-of-season imports, to align with natural food availability and improve health.
Make it a simple anchor behavior to include a complete dietary protein source at each meal, such as meat, seafood, poultry, or eggs.
As a simple heuristic, prioritize eating during daylight hours and try to curtail eating during darkness to align with natural circadian rhythms.
Consider practicing intermittent fasting or time-restricted feeding during winter months, as historically, eating primarily during shorter daylight hours naturally led to longer fasting periods.
Avoid sticking to one dietary approach (e.g., plant-based/vegan) year-round, as diets that thrive in one season (like summer) may lead to health decline if extended beyond their natural seasonal appropriateness.
Adjust your exercise patterns with the seasons; for example, in winter, focus on shorter, more intense movements, while in summer, you can engage in longer, more aerobic, and less intense activities.
Introduce more general, three-dimensional, and unpredictable movement into your daily life, such as walking and carrying groceries, to mimic natural human activity and reduce reliance on contrived exercise.
Observe how athletes periodize their training and nutrition with off-seasons and different activities for different times of the year, and apply this principle to your own general health and fitness.
In winter, contract your social world by drawing closer to the most important people for meaningful connection, contrasting with summer’s expansive social activities like parties and road trips.
In winter, embrace the darkness by creating cozy, contained dining experiences with candles and a set table, encouraging deeper connection and conversation with loved ones.
Adjust self-care routines seasonally; for example, in winter, embrace restorative practices like evening baths with candles, while in summer, prioritize outdoor activities like walks or gardening.
At the end of summer, consciously pivot from expansive, dopamine-driven activities to slowing down, resting more, reconnecting with self and close ones, and reassessing gathered resources.
Shift the timing of “New Year’s resolutions” and new programs to early spring, as this aligns with the natural energetic and motivational (dopamine-driven) expansion of the season, rather than the contraction of deep winter.
Recognize that it’s biologically normal to feel less energetic and motivated in winter; embrace this time for increased sleep, rest, restoration, and deep reconnection with close relationships, rather than viewing it as pathological.
Be kinder to yourself and adjust expectations based on the season; for example, accept lower energy levels and less motivation for intense workouts during dark winter months as a natural biological response.
Employers with flexibility should consider adjusting work schedules and expectations to align with natural human biological rhythms and seasons, potentially leading to a happier and more productive workforce.
Utilize programs like Whole30 as short-term personal experiments to learn how your body responds to whole, unprocessed foods, rather than adopting them as a permanent, restrictive lifestyle. The goal is to internalize intuition, not rely on external rules indefinitely.
Assess your caffeine consumption to determine if it’s artificially driving you to move at an unsustainable pace, rather than providing deep nourishment, and consider reducing it to better align with natural energy rhythms.
Actively address self-medication with social media, recognizing its role in perpetual self-stimulation and ego stroking, and reduce its use to avoid neurochemical overstimulation.
Recognize and address mismatches between your deep intuitions (e.g., being introverted) and external behaviors (e.g., constant busyness and travel), choosing activities that are deeply nourishing rather than just self-stimulating or success-oriented.
Consider wearing minimalist footwear like Vivo Barefoot shoes for potential benefits in back, hip, knee pain, and general mobility, as they are designed to be super comfortable and allow natural foot movement.