Nature has so much to teach us. I’m looking out at the bare trees, just stripped of their leaves by a ruthless and ferocious North wind.

Just a few days ago they were sporting their fall resplendence of oranges, reds, and yellows.

It will be a full five months before the tender green buds will begin to leaf out in those trees. Then the cycle of growth, production, and harvest will begin all over again.

This is a time of dormancy and incubation.

It never occurs to me to give myself a period of dormancy and incubation time between work cycles or projects. I just keep pushing ahead, into the next thing. And, usually, it is full speed ahead. We have been conditioned to just keep going, relentlessly.

What is the price that we pay for that?

I’m guessing that the full growth and production of the tree depends on this period of rest. While I don’t know what it is specifically, there is stuff that needs to be done by the tree in dormancy.

Nature builds in down time.

What would be different if we allowed ourselves some down time after a big project?

What would be possible, that isn’t possible now?

How challenging would it be to give ourselves this time?

What about you? Where do you need some down time, and what could it look like?