The Honor System: Postmodern Living by Honoring your Ancestors
What is Postmodern Wellbeing?
Postmodernism questions current cultural norms, applying intuition and intention to the small things that add up to the big things. We are challenging the idea that modern influence and interventions on nature are universally beneficial, and reapplying some of our ancestors’ wisdom to our modern ways. To live a postmodern lifestyle requires open-mindedness and a willingness to shift with the tides rather than the crowd, if you will.
A postmodern lifestyle is a life of honoring what always has been and what always will be, amidst the currents of constant change.
1. Honor the Seasons
Before modern comforts and conveniences, our ancestors had no choice but to honor the seasons. In the fall, they harvested and preserved food while securing shelter to hunker down through cold winters. In the spring, they celebrated the return of the sun and began ‘sweeping off the cobwebs’ (Spring cleaning!) and planting new seeds in the garden. Summer seasons were for hard work and celebration of another year to cultivate a dream for their generations to come.
How to:
- Try following the Wheel of the Year to stay aligned with the seasons.
- Eat seasonal produce! You can find a great reference list in MMP00.
2. Honor the Sun Cycle
Have you ever noticed how you shift your habits when you are camping? Usually, you get up earlier as the sun rises to warm up, your day gets active a little quicker, and we settle in near a fire at sundown for a little story time before bed. This is probably how our ancestors did it, too. Before the blue lights of televisions, computers, phones and overhead fluorescent lighting there were less things to pull us away from the natural day’s cycle.
We now have the ability to stay up late doing laundry in the electric dryer, dishes with our running hot water, and our latest project on our laptops while we catch up on the latest sitcoms until 2 am- which has a deep impact on our overall wellbeing overtime.
How to:
- Apply Ayurvedic scheduling to your days.
- Try candles, twinkle lights or low lit lamps around your home instead of overhead lighting at night.
3. Honor the Moon Cycle
Have you ever heard of the Red Tent?
In ancient societies, red tents were sanctuaries where women would retreat during their menstrual cycles. These spaces provided a sense of community, support, and healing. Women would gather to share their experiences, knowledge, and wisdom, passing it down from generation to generation. It was common for most women of the village to bleed together, in alignment with the moon cycles. This has changed since modern women often use hormonal contraceptives and/or have a disregulated circadian rhythm (again, highly affected by electricity and lighting).
How to:
- Use an app like Spinning Wheels to track your menstrual cycle and other symptoms, like cervical mucus, mood, etc.
- Schedule slower days when you are expecting your bleed to arrive.
4. Honor Rites of Passage
There are many sacred rites of passage throughout the timeline of every life. These times imprint us with values and ideas about our worthiness- who we are in this macrosystem. According to anthropologist Robbie Davis Floyd, “A rite of passage is a series of rituals designed to conduct an individual from one social state or status to another, thereby affecting transformations both in society’s perceptions of the individual and in the individual’s perception of self.”
How to:
- Learn about the six main Rites of Passage for women.
- Look into your own birth story- the Birth of You
- Support other women through Rites of Passage
