A Walk Through the Seasons: An Interactive Guide to Trusting Yourself by Connecting with Nature

By Mary J Caputo

When the winds of change blow, trusting in your wisdom and voice can make the difference between holding steady or being carried away. Now more than ever, we need to cultivate trust in ourselves to push forward through life’s challenges.

In A Walk Through the Seasons, Mary J. Caputo invites you to pause from your hectic life to reflect with nature to find the answers we hold inside of ourselves. The seasonal framework guides your path to self-discovery. Mary includes activities that vary in time and intensity, allowing you to decide which ones to engage with and when.

This interactive guidebook will teach you how to

• Look to nature as a mirror of your own life
• Reawaken your inner wisdom
• Create a reflective practice
• Develop deeper connections with the earth and yourself.

Mary invites you to walk this powerful journey of combining nature and reflection to awaken your true power

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jul 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9798765228258

Mary J Caputo

Mary J. Caputo is surprised that her life’s journey led to her becoming an author, although the desire to write is always within her. She is living proof that you never know where life leads; you only have to say yes. In her first book, A Walk Through the Seasons, she blends her love of nature with connecting to our true essence. Mary holds an M.Ed. from the University of Texas and has over 30 years of experience working with children and families as a teacher, administrator, and specialist. She is a certified life coach trained in Compassion Fatigue, Guided Meditation, and Breath Work. Mary resides with her husband in Cedar Park, Texas where they raised three incredible children. She can usually be found walking her dogs, planning her next outdoor adventure, or enjoying the sun on her back porch swing. www.maryjcaputo.com @ maryjcaputo

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Copyright © 2022 Mary J Caputo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

The cover page and interior pictures are credited to Robert Krei (www.foreseon.net).

The Seasonal Legend and Feeling Words images are credited to Petra Smith and Robert Krei

ISBN: 979-8-7652-2824-1 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-7652-2825-8 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date:  01/30/2023

For mom

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 First Steps

Chapter 2 Walking with Mother Earth

Chapter 3 The Path of Reflection

Chapter 4 The Awakening of Spring

Chapter 5 The Blooming of Summer

Chapter 6 The Shedding of Fall

Chapter 7 The Hibernating of Winter

Chapter 8 Walking Your Path

Afterword

About the Author

CHAPTER 1

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First Steps

Choose to be in touch with what is wonderful, refreshing, and healing within yourself and around you. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Have you ever had a hard year? A year that had you wanting to say goodbye to it by September? A year that was life-changing and life-altering, but also transformative and unrelenting in the lessons and opportunities that presented themselves? For me, 2019 was that year, a year of loss and transition.

The year 2019 started on a good note. I have been married for over 30 years, and I have a good job working for an important cause. I have three healthy children, two of whom were living with me at the time, as well as my grandson, who has spent most of his life living in this house. My circle also included a great core group of friends I could always count on and plenty of dogs and cats to round us out. Then the year started to chip away at the life I had built for myself. Some were exciting things: in March, my daughter and grandson came home from a trip and announced that she was getting married to my grandson’s father. Some were very sad: The next day, my father-in-law passed away. In April, my daughter, my grandson, and the dogs moved out to their new home as they prepared to live as a family. In May, my mother passed away somewhat unexpectedly. In June, my son moved out and began his career as a nurse. In September, my middle child and her partner quit their jobs, sold their possessions, and moved to Mexico City. In October, while I was on a business trip, one of my cats did not come in one night and was later found dead (the coyotes had gotten to her). The very next day, a dear friend’s husband died. In November, my husband’s uncle died. As I said, it was a year of continuous loss and transition.

The purpose of this list is not to elicit sympathy or complain (as I recognize that others face tragedy and challenges every day); rather, it is an explanation of the guidebook that you now hold in your hands. How do we overcome so many life changes without losing ourselves?

Before this year, of course, there were challenges and hard times—sometimes excruciatingly hard times—but never in my life had so many things, seemingly unrelated and random, hit in such quick succession. I had no control over these events and felt like a ball in a pinball machine ricocheting from one thing to another without intentionality or planning. During one of my yoga classes, as we were transitioning from Savasana, or corpse pose, to Parsva Savasana, or side fetal pose, the yoga instructor expressed that for every ending, there is a beginning. How does one find the new opening and not remain in the corpse pose through life?

I invite you to take a moment and reflect on your life this past year. What are the themes that have risen? What are your stories? Are you listening to the lessons that are being set before you?

The death of my mother hit me hard, harder than I expected. She was 90 when she passed and had outlived her siblings. She was ready to go to them, and she made her transition at home with her family around her—a beautiful way to pass on to the next life. Yet, being here on earth without her proved a bit difficult and somehow less fun.

I began to consider how people move through these life events. With medication? Meditation? Therapy? All of these are viable options. To move forward in our lives, one must first find some peace and harmony. I began to reflect on where I was when I felt at peace, even during difficult times. The answer was immediate: working in the garden, out on a run, laying in a hammock, opening a window . . . in a nutshell, connecting to Mother Earth. That was the one constant in my life. I have always loved being in nature. Not only do I hug trees, but I also hug boulders so large that I cannot get my arms around them. My children collect rocks and stones for me as they travel, flowers and plants fill my house, and I always have a garden. Let me be clear: I am not a proper gardener or nature collector! So, what was it? Why did I seek out nature in this way? I realized that it makes me feel good; it calms the winds that blow inside my head and the storms that surge in my belly. So, yes, I feel very close to our Earth Momma, but was I taking advantage of her wisdom and how she expresses it to us every day? I began considering how she communicates with us through the seasons. The seasons are an invitation to pause, take stock, and reflect on our lives. But how in our busy lives do we do this?

I decided to put it to the test. To spend the next couple of years strengthening and tapping into my inner wisdom