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Happy Chinese New Year. Happy Pancake Day. Happy New Moon. Happy Lunar New Year. Happy Solar Eclipse in Aquarius. And… happy Tuesday.

It’s quite something that one ordinary weekday can hold so many different layers of meaning.

Some of those feel completely normal to celebrate. Pancake Day? No one questions that. We’ll happily gather around batter and lemons without worrying whether it’s rational.

But mention a lunar cycle or a zodiac animal and it suddenly sits in a different category. Slightly mystical, maybe suspect and possibly for some, a bit…woo-woo.

I find that fascinating.

So much of my work now feels aligned with remembering natural rhythms that we’ve learned to ignore or maybe even ridicule. The Gregorian calendar has taken centre stage in how we organise our lives and somewhere along the way our wildness has been replaced with being ‘civilised’.

Wildness doesn’t mean chaos to me. It means intuition, patterns, seasonality and the deep intelligence of knowing when something is ready and when it isn’t.

For most of human history we lived in close relationship with things like lunar phases, solstices, tides and migration patterns. These weren’t the ways we defined personalities, they were how we survived.

Now when I start talking about the moon, my teenage kids roll their eyes and tell me it’s ‘woke nonsense’. I don’t blame them - popular culture has flattened something vast into newspaper horoscopes and caricatures so it’s definitely easy to dismiss.

But step back from the noise and we’re left with something very simple - a rock orbiting our planet moves oceans, stabilises the Earth’s axis and subtly shapes biological rhythms across species. It feels oddly naive to accept that it can shift entire tides but have no influence whatsoever on us.

I’m not suggesting we have to start planning our diaries around horoscopes. But I am suggesting we get curious about why we’re so quick to categorise some systems as ‘real’ and others as ‘hippy’.

And I couldn’t mention new rhythms without showing you a photo of our new moon clock :)

This clock is likely to bring something up for us about belief. Some of us will find it interesting to see a different type of clock and others might think it’s pointless. And it doesn’t really matter either way as our beliefs are personal to us.

Through my own journey of inner work, I’ve discovered that beliefs are not fixed objects. They’re the scaffolding to our lives that can be examined, strengthened and/or replaced.

Ten years ago the thought of writing a newsletter that mentioned lunar cycles and showing you our new clock, would have made me sweat.

I grew up in what many would call a hippy household, so these ideas were around me but I had very deliberately built an adult identity aligned with the corporate world. Being taken seriously mattered enormously to my sense of acceptance and ultimately, my safety.

Anything that risked tipping me into the ‘not quite credible’ or different box felt dangerous.

But slowly, I began to realise I could question things and be more than one thing. The false duality wasn’t real - I could hold onto rigour, ambition and commercial focus while also allowing myself to acknowledge that we are biological beings living inside ecological systems.

For me, staying rooted has meant becoming more comfortable thinking for myself.

Some of you reading this will feel energised by talk of seasons and cycles and others might feel sceptical. Neither is superior. The important part is recognising your stance and choosing it consciously.

Because being willing to unpack our belief systems (especially the ones tied to identity) allows us to build safety within ourselves - we root into something chosen rather than something inherited from others.

Events & gatherings

These are some photos from last Thursday.

Me and Kate hosted a group of brilliant humans for The Tending. The invitation wasn’t to declare what you’re launching next. It was to explore what you’re tending below the surface in readiness for what might emerge in the next season.

Being on land makes these metaphors land deeply. In winter, nothing looks energetic and there are no dramatic blooms. But the soil is busy, roots are strengthening and microbial life is active.

Our conversations felt like that. People spoke about ideas still forming, shifts in identity, projects not yet ready for daylight. There was connection, weaving of thoughts and a shared recognition that not everything valuable needs to be visible immediately.

Many of us have absorbed the belief that output equals worth. That if it isn’t launched, announced or monetised, it doesn’t count.

And yet on that day, it was obvious that tending is not passive, it requires attention and courage. It asks us to resist the urge to prematurely harvest and to be honest with ourselves and others.

It was an amazing day and I’m really excited about what’s moving next…

The Natural Network at Patch

27th February: 10am - 12pm at Patch. Tickets here

This is the launch event to replace our much loved ‘People, Planet, Pastry’ gatherings. This is an evolution and I’m looking forward to it.

This first event will be an introduction to the series with facilitated discussion, a celebration of our community and time to connect with others. All aligned to the seasonal energy and a delicious treat, hot drink and facilitated discussion.

We’d love you to join this launch event!

And then we’re back at Four Acre:

The Natural Network at Four Acre - ‘The Emergence’

20th March: 9.15-13.15 at Four Acre Farm. Tickets here

As day and night come into balance, this Spring Equinox gathering invites you to step from reflection into visible action.

If winter was for thinking and February was for tending what is growing beneath the surface, we're now ready for emergence.

This focused half-day experience blends structured business reflection with nature-based insight.

Workshop, delicious lunch, connections and follow up 30 minute coaching conversation with me.

Don’t forget that as an email subscriber, you can use the code Naturalnetwork20 for a £20 discount. We’d love to see you there.

Perhaps this week isn’t about becoming anything new at all but about remembering something older.

About noticing which rhythms you’ve unconsciously handed authority to and gently reclaiming the right to choose your own pace, your own season and your own beliefs.

You don’t have to swing wildly from one system to another. Just start by paying attention to what feels forced and to what feels natural. Then we can begin to tend to what’s beneath the surface.

As ever, with curiosity, steadiness and a little reclaimed wildness,

Nick

Well that’s it for another week. But we don’t have to stop there.

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