Turning the Wheel, Slowly
As this year comes to a close, I’ve been thinking less about what I accomplished and more about what I noticed.
The way the light shifted through the windows as the seasons changed. The things I reached for again and again without planning to. The moments when my practice felt close and familiar, and the moments when it quietly stepped back while I handled the work of being human.
For a long time, I thought growth meant consistency in the obvious ways. Daily rituals. Perfect habits. A clear sense of direction. This year taught me something gentler. It taught me that growth often happens when I stop trying to force it.
There were weeks when I felt deeply connected to my practice, and others when it sat quietly in the background. I used to judge myself for that. Now I see it as rhythm. Nothing in nature blooms constantly. Rest is part of the cycle, not a failure of it.
I’m learning to pay attention instead of chasing. To listen to my body, my home, the land around me. To trust that tending small, ordinary things is part of the work. Cooking, cleaning, walking the same paths, noticing what changes and what stays the same. These moments carry their own quiet magic.
This year shifted my practice inward. I stopped looking for more tools and started using what I already had. I asked fewer questions about what I should be doing and more about what felt true. That alone changed everything.
As the wheel turns toward a new year, I don’t feel the urge to reinvent myself. What I want instead is to grow a little deeper where I’m already planted. To care for what’s ready to grow. To release what feels heavy or no longer fits, without making it a dramatic thing.
The year ahead feels like new growth, but not rushed growth. The kind that takes its time. The kind that trusts the soil and waits for the right light.
If you’re standing at the edge of a new year too, I hope you give yourself permission to move at your own pace. To let your practice shift and soften. To honor your rhythms, even when they don’t look impressive from the outside.
There is wisdom in slow tending. There is magic in paying attention. And there is plenty of time.
~ Hearthblossom
