Cycle of the Seasons

No matter where a person lives, the cycle of the seasons are embedded themselves in us. Disruptions in those cycles disturbs the soul - and complaining is likely to follow.

After several grey-sky days, people in checkouts lines in the grocery store and pharmacy declare loud and clearly their strong feelings about the sun's absence. When the weather disrupts our lives with drought, snow storms, or floods, our noticing takes on even more importance. At such times, meteorologists hedge their bets, even though their predictions often are more accurate than indicators regarding the rise and fall of the stock market.

Few of us lead lives anymore in which it really matters if the the sun shines or not, whether the rains come in a timely fashion, or the first snow fall comes at the "right" time. We go to work, engage in indoor exercise, and shop whenever pantry shelves are getting empty.

It is hard to say why humans are still so wired to the cycle of the seasons. The people who built the structures of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico have moved on, assimilated into contemporary cultures. But their engineering and astronomical skills remain an elaborate testimony to a time when the cycle of the seasons was essential. In my travel memoir, There is No Future in the Past, I describe how these people planted their calendars into a landscape "saturated with cosmological meaning. One wall of Pueblo Bonito is perfectly aligned with the cardinal directions and connects the heavens with the earth, predicting the spring and fall equinoxes. Other Chaco structures foretold the solstices, by situating them in relationship with distant sun-watching stations chiseled in the rock."

No matter where you live in the world, your ancestors depended on the regularity of the season's cycles. When weather patterns changed, they migrated to some place else - or starved. Diverse cultures resulted, giving us our rich human heritage. But perhaps we all share this connection to the seasons embedded in our bodies.

Of course it is possible to put your head down, go about your life, and ignore the seasons. Looking up occasionally when weather diverts your agenda. But how much richer it is to pay attention. Notice the sun - and the grey skies. Smell the differences in the air. And listen, if you are lucky to live where honking geese flying overhead are practicing before migrating.