The task of undertaking a new beginning in our lives is analogous to the work of a farmer or gardener in Spring.

Summer, that vibrant season when life is active, expanding, producing. There is new growth everywhere. There is new life feeding upon that growth. There are storms and there are calm periods. There are periods of heat and drought and hours and hours of sunlight. And there are times when the living is easy.

For millennia, the summer season has been the most active season of the year for humankind. The concept of summer as a "kick-back and rest" season has coincided with the growth of the leisure industry. Unfortunately, we tend to pack our leisure time as hectically as we do our work time.

Autumn is a good season for beginning to live gently. It is the time for harvesting the fruits of winter planning, spring planting and summer husbandry.

With the autumn harvest over and stored, we look to the winter season for time to sit back and rest from our labours. Winter looks both backward and forward. Winter gives us time for rest, renewal and review at the ending of the old year. Winter also allows time for planning for, and dreaming about, the coming year, a time when we choose those seeds we wish to plant in the approaching spring.

This day starts in the darkness of night, which is fitting, with me in the midst of a midwinter night's dream. This night, I can enjoy many hours of visions of sugar plums dancing in my head, for it is the 24-hour period north of the equatorial zone with the most hours of darkness. On this ultimate day of rest, even the mighty Sun stands momentarily still in the sky.

The North American way of life today is not designed for the slow, natural pace of our bodies. Its fast pace with demands at every turn stresses the body and mind which, if uncontrolled, will eventually lead to a feeling of despair and dis-ease. If not alleviated, stress can cause one or more chronic diseases.