Kōanga, raumati, ngahuru, takurua.
In "life", it is said that we travel through, and experience, many different seasons.
The changing of the seasons can bring with it adjustments to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies.
Those changes can manifest in many forms, sometimes appearing as physical illness, or a hinderance, an achievement, happiness, or even a twinkle in the eye.
There is a time and a season, a rhyme and a reason, for everything.
In this short span of time that has been 2025, abundance of seasons have graced my presence.
The depth and diversity of each experience has ignited deep reflection within me.
The wisdom whispers quietly in my ear, to remind me that: "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven".
A time to be born, and a time to die.
Tūpuna Māori had significant ceremonies, rituals and practices that enhanced and enabled processes to guide the people through these paramount and ordinary times in life.
Whakapapa, atua, kawa, tikanga, mana, kotahitanga, aroha, tuakana, teina.
Ko ēra mea ko ngā taonga tuku iho. Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui ki te ako.
Kia mau ēnei taonga katoa.
We can be sure of three things in life: that we will be born, without that there is no opportunity to have physical life; the act or the art of living your life is the second surety; and finally the fact that eventually you will succumb to death on your path.
And whether death finds you knowingly or unknowingly, there may come to be a great reflection upon your life where you consider, "what was I doing in a time to plant", and a time to pluck up that which is planted?
Were you a generational transmitter of knowledge?
Or did you just have "a time to kill"?
Did you seek within the depths of your bloodline to find who you are, and empower yourself with a time to heal; and a time to break down all that was no longer true for you, and give yourself a time to build up your self-esteem, your self-confidence, your self-worth and most importantly your self-love?
You can depend upon the constant life-changing patterns that bring you: a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
Within these realms we experience our humanness in connection with and to others.
Kia mau te tokanga nui a noho — There’s no place like home.
Wherever that space is for you, I hope you know the most important home you are majorly responsible for is the vessel your soul is driving, the body your spirit is experiencing its freewill choices of life in.
There will come challenges, yet let your motivation to overcome adversity come in winter bursts — quiet but powerful when it arrives.
Leaves don’t "change colour" — they reveal their true selves.
Set your foundations on solid ground so you are crystal clear, aware, discerning and ready for that time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
Have patience like spring rain — steady, gentle, and bringing growth in a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
Ice cream melts faster than you think in extreme heat. Moea te poi, moea te taiaha, be alert, be prepared in a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.
Show humility, graciousness and gratitude in a time to love, and a time to hate, a time of war, and a time of peace.
To everything there is a season.
What could be glossed over as so insignificant is so rich and deep to appease thy soul if one takes the time to ponder the words and seek the healing within the wisdom that is provided.
Ngā hau whatu o te rangi, ngā hau mātai o te whenua, ngā hau pūrea o te tangata — The winds that weave the heavens, the winds that shape the land, the winds that renew the people. A reminder of the interconnectedness of seasonal winds, weather, and the importance of the land and human well-being.
We all have cycles in our lives.
