Autumn’s brilliant mix of vivid and organic earth tones creates a perfect backdrop for personal reflection and inward shifts that settle and rebalance our soul. This season holds space for us, inviting a pause and moment to reconnect with the deeper and more grounded rhythms that align us with the restoration of stillness and practices of gratitude. 

Mental Wellness is the focus of this month’s issue, inviting us to take seriously the factors that influence mood and encouraging us to look beyond any stigma, judgment or self-doubt attached to this realm. Diet, environment and self-talk play a role in the nervous system’s equanimity and our contributors highlight approaches and insight to soothe turbulent thoughts and less-than serene states of being. 

No one needs data to confirm the impact of the past several years on the psyche of the population and planet. The idea of post-traumatic stress has peaked with professionals and families now familiar with the care needed for anyone who has sustained intense, sudden and life-changing events. 

Over the past 10 years, researchers have revealed a perspective of "post-traumatic growth", defined as a ‘positive psychological change’ that redirects pain into useful avenues, with the ability to improve relationships and enhance gratitude and a sense of spirituality. In his writings, psychotherapist and researcher Richard G. Tedeschi notes that post-traumatic growth can be “facilitated in five ways: through education, emotional regulation, disclosure, narrative development, and service.” This strongly suggests that we need each other; trusted friends, therapists and family with whom to share our story, and tools such as mindfulness to help us regulate our emotions and responses. Finding opportunities to care for others is integral in growing through challenging times. This new paradigm we are living into requires stamina, and a new caliber of self-awareness and calm to process, discover and continue knowing ourselves and each other. 

We celebrate the collective resilience that has risen up over the past few years to meet the dynamic waves of change that continue to shift our world, revealing new possibilities; the potential of the human spirit is a luminous work of art.  

For us at Natural Awakenings Lancaster/Berks, the last 10 years have been a glorious unfolding of relationships with our readers, practitioners, small business owners, educators, artists, healers, gurus and gifted writers as we’ve witnessed resilience, wisdom, and growth. We are so very grateful for each one of you – our learning has expanded us in all ways, as we are challenged to live up to and into a healthier, more connected, more balanced world within ourselves and with each other on this planet.  

Thank you for walking with us these years! Onward, beloveds! 

Jacqueline and Kendra