The Paradox of Seasons

Kent Murawski

“In the visible world of nature, a great truth is concealed in plain sight: diminishment and beauty, darkness and light, death and life are not opposites. They are held together in the paradox of ‘hidden wholeness.'” (Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak) ¹

Today, March 16, 2023, I celebrated my 48th birthday – the day a new life came into the world 48 years ago. It’s also the week of our church’s farewell celebration – celebrating 13 years of service and impact in the lives of people throughout Cambridge, Greater Boston, and the world (this area tends to be a stopping-off place for people from many different nations)

Life is like that. Where seeming opposites happen at the same time. Where death and life co-exist.

What Is Your Metaphor for Life?

The metaphors we choose for life often become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Recently, I’ve been reading Parker Palmer’s  Let Your Life Speak   where he advocates for using seasons as a wise metaphor for the movement of life.   Some say life is a game of chance. Others say life is like a battlefield. Palmer suggests “that life is neither a battlefield nor a game of chance but something infinitely richer, more promising, more real” (96). Seasons don’t deny the struggles or joys but encourage us to “embrace it all – and to find in all of it opportunities for growth.”

My family and I have been watching a show on Discovery+ called,  Alaskan Bush People.  It’s a fascinating story of the Brown family, a family of 9 that grew up wild living in the Alaskan Bush. There is a lot we can learn from them. They are a close-knit family, don’t have phones or televisions, know what’s important, love each other well, have faith in God, and live simply. But like any family, they have their shortcomings. Every time something bad happens, they say, “It’s Brown luck again” meaning bad luck. Instead of embracing the metaphor of seasons and the joys and struggles that come with each season, they’ve chosen to tell themselves that the Browns have bad luck. It’s a narrative they tell themselves over and over and have come to believe.

I have my own negative narratives, and you do too. One of the ones I tell myself regularly is that when something goes wrong – whether in life, with family, or in leadership – it’s all my fault. The more I tell myself that the more I believe it. The reality is, I may have some fault in the things that go wrong for which I should acknowledge and take ownership, but it’s rarely if ever all  my fault. Quite honestly, taking all the blame is a form of pride and arrogance. Thinking things are all my fault means I would have total control over the outcomes, when in reality, I only have control of my part in any given situation. And the narrative that we are in control can be a deceptive one.

We do well to choose our narratives and metaphors of life wisely.

According to Palmer, most of us in the West haven’t grown up in an agrarian society but a manufacturing one, and it has significantly shaped our narrative. We don’t “grow” our lives, we “make” them. It comes out in our everyday speech: we  make  time,  make  friends,  make  money,  make  a living, and  make  love. “We absorb our culture’s arrogant conviction that we manufacture everything.” Accepting the metaphor of seasons means we can “conspire but never control” life. But it runs into a direct conflict with the common narrative that insists, “against all evidence, we can make whatever kind of life we want, whenever we want it.”

This has caused us to believe we are always in charge, which if you’ve lived for long enough, you know to be an utter fabrication.

The Paradox of Seasons

It seems my season of life is shifting. Maybe yours is too. Embracing the “seasons of life” metaphor means that within every season there is both good and bad, death and life, joy and sorrow. It’s not either-or but both-and. Autumn is a great example. What do you primarily notice in the fall, life or death, beauty or sorrow?

The reality is, it’s both. 

Autumn is a season of life and death with great beauty as well as decline. But while things are dying or going dormant for the winter, nature is also releasing and scattering the seeds that will bring new life in the spring.

In every season of death, the seeds of new life are being sown.

Let’s end where we began,

In the visible world of nature, a great truth is concealed in plain sight: diminishment and beauty, darkness and light, death and life are not opposites. They are held together in the paradox of ‘hidden wholeness.’²

As you look at your life today, I hope you find strength, as I have, in embracing the paradox of the seasons as a metaphor for life.

What season do you find yourself in? What are the paradoxes and where can you find “hidden wholeness?”

* Photo by Takahiro Sakamoto on Unsplash

¹ Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak, 99. “Hidden wholeness” is a term coined by Thomas Merton

² Ibid

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By Kent Murawski July 28, 2025
When was the last time you ended a summer feeling more energized than when it started? ​​Summer brings changes for many of us—minimizing our motivation to work, disrupting work routines, and altering schedules. With summertime often comes a desire to slow down, and yet, we're not always sure how to do that. This week is my last new post for a little while (though I may resend some popular posts from the 2024-2025 season). I’m pressing pause to create space and pour my energy into finishing my new book. But stay tuned—when I’m back in six weeks, the newsletter will be refreshed with some exciting updates you won’t want to miss! Read to the end to find out more. In this week's edition of Catalyst, I want to share 3 ideas to help you effectively navigate summer. 3 Ways to Master Summer Without Burning Out 1) Stop and Think (Reflect) Socrates famously said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." For Socrates, life was more than pursuing the things that most men occupy themselves with, things like wealth, household affairs, status and position, and political clubs and factions. He believed that life only has value and meaning when we question what we think and know, and by more deeply understanding ourselves and others. The beginning of summer is an ideal time for reflection, and we all tend to occupy ourselves with the things Socrates talked about more than we probably care to admit. Taking a reflection day at the end of each quarter (consider removing "or trimester" for conciseness) can be an effective way to navigate seasonal changes. Finding a place far enough removed from your normal day-to-day life will help you get into a different headspace. A friend of mine often says: Change of pace + change of place = change of perspective. I've used hotels, monasteries, or even a beautiful outdoor location if the weather permits. Here are a few questions you might want to ask: How am I feeling spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically? How are my closest relationships doing? Am I living out my core values? Is my life moving in a direction I feel good about? What do I need to change or adjust? Here are a few ideas for how to conduct a reflection day: Prayer, meditation, or silence Review your biggest wins and assess your goals from the previous quarter Work on high-impact projects that require focus Preview the upcoming quarter and set your Big 3 goals: personal, marriage/family, work/business 2) Cut the Non-Essentials (Reevaluate) Both my wife and I work, so when summer arrives, we need to re-evaluate our schedules to accommodate our twelve-year-old son. In the past, I've made the mistake of trying to keep the same workload despite being home with him two days a week. I ended up frustrated all summer long, living in the tension of wanting to spend more time with him while trying to carry the same workload. Summer requires me to pare down my work roles to the essentials: Writing (currently working on a new book) Executive coaching (6-8 coaching clients) Relationship building and outreach Necessary administration (keeping this to 30% or less of my responsibilities) Moving forward, I will probably keep things this way. It feels more sustainable than the unrealistic expectations I previously held myself to. Once you define your key roles and responsibilities, the question becomes how to achieve better work-life integration not work-life balance. I use the Big 3 System. Choose only three big things to focus on at one time—quarterly, weekly, and daily. That's right, just three. Those three things are usually a combination of personal, marriage/family, and work. Each quarter, I typically choose 1 personal goal, 1 marriage and family goal, and 1-3 work goals, depending on the quarter. Here are a few questions to consider. If you have a partner, discuss them together: How does your schedule change in the summer? What work-related responsibilities and expectations do you need to adjust? What are 3 things you want to do this summer? What do you NOT want to do? 3) Choose What Matters Most (Rest) Paring down expectations isn't only for work, it applies to rest, too. Because it's summer, there is the temptation to want to fit in everything (—vacation, visit family, trips, fun, etc). In the past, we would try to do so much that by the time fall rolled around, we were exhausted. Last year, out of necessity, we planned a staycation instead of going away. It was one of the best vacations we've had in a long time. And besides, summers in New England are gorgeous! We went to see a movie, ate out, went to Six Flags, had a beach day, and took days in between just to relax. We loved it so much, we're doing a staycation again this year! Write down your list of summer expectations and plans. Now, cross out everything that feels exhausting and unfun. Don't try to fit everything in this summer. Pick a couple of things that feel life-giving and focus on those. Your Move Reflect. Re-evaluate. Rest. Choose one of the three and work on it in the next 24 hours. Plan a day of reflection. Have a conversation with your spouse. Choose how you're going to rest this summer. I don't care which one it is, just take action. Here’s one question to consider: What would you stop doing this summer if no one was watching? Most people think summer is about maximizing experiences and fitting everything in, but the truth is that the most productive leaders use summer to strategically subtract, not add. They understand that rest isn't what you do after the work is done—it's what makes the work sustainable in the first place. You've got this.
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For Socrates, life was more than pursuing the things that most men occupy themselves with, things like wealth, household affairs, status and position, and political clubs and factions. He believed that life only has value and meaning when we question what we think and know, and by more deeply understanding ourselves and others. The beginning of summer is an ideal time for reflection, and we all tend to occupy ourselves with the things Socrates talked about more than we probably care to admit. Taking a reflection day at the end of each quarter (consider removing "or trimester" for conciseness) can be an effective way to navigate seasonal changes. Finding a place far enough removed from your normal day-to-day life will help you get into a different headspace. A friend of mine often says: Change of pace + change of place = change of perspective. I've used hotels, monasteries, or even a beautiful outdoor location if the weather permits. Here are a few questions you might want to ask: How am I feeling spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically? How are my closest relationships doing? Am I living out my core values? Is my life moving in a direction I feel good about? What do I need to change or adjust? Here are a few ideas for how to conduct a reflection day: Prayer, meditation, or silence Review your biggest wins and assess your goals from the previous quarter Work on high-impact projects that require focus Preview the upcoming quarter and set your Big 3 goals: personal, marriage/family, work/business 2) Cut the Non-Essentials (Reevaluate) Both my wife and I work, so when summer arrives, we need to re-evaluate our schedules to accommodate our twelve-year-old son. In the past, I've made the mistake of trying to keep the same workload despite being home with him two days a week. I ended up frustrated all summer long, living in the tension of wanting to spend more time with him while trying to carry the same workload. Summer requires me to pare down my work roles to the essentials: Writing (currently working on a new book) Executive coaching (6-8 coaching clients) Relationship building and outreach Necessary administration (keeping this to 30% or less of my responsibilities) Moving forward, I will probably keep things this way. It feels more sustainable than the unrealistic expectations I previously held myself to. Once you define your key roles and responsibilities, the question becomes how to achieve better work-life integration not work-life balance. I use the Big 3 System. Choose only three big things to focus on at one time—quarterly, weekly, and daily. That's right, just three. Those three things are usually a combination of personal, marriage/family, and work. Each quarter, I typically choose 1 personal goal, 1 marriage and family goal, and 1-3 work goals, depending on the quarter. Here are a few questions to consider. If you have a partner, discuss them together: How does your schedule change in the summer? What work-related responsibilities and expectations do you need to adjust? What are 3 things you want to do this summer? What do you NOT want to do? 3) Choose What Matters Most (Rest) Paring down expectations isn't only for work, it applies to rest, too. Because it's summer, there is the temptation to want to fit in everything (—vacation, visit family, trips, fun, etc). In the past, we would try to do so much that by the time fall rolled around, we were exhausted. Last year, out of necessity, we planned a staycation instead of going away. It was one of the best vacations we've had in a long time. And besides, summers in New England are gorgeous! We went to see a movie, ate out, went to Six Flags, had a beach day, and took days in between just to relax. We loved it so much, we're doing a staycation again this year! Write down your list of summer expectations and plans. Now, cross out everything that feels exhausting and unfun. Don't try to fit everything in this summer. Pick a couple of things that feel life-giving and focus on those. Your Move Reflect. Re-evaluate. Rest. Choose one of the three and work on it in the next 24 hours. Plan a day of reflection. Have a conversation with your spouse. Choose how you're going to rest this summer. I don't care which one it is, just take action. Here’s one question to consider: What would you stop doing this summer if no one was watching? Most people think summer is about maximizing experiences and fitting everything in, but the truth is that the most productive leaders use summer to strategically subtract, not add. They understand that rest isn't what you do after the work is done—it's what makes the work sustainable in the first place. You've got this.
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