The Four Seasons of Your Cycle: A Journey Through Your Body's Wisdom
What if I told you that your body moves through four distinct seasons every month? Seasons that affect your energy, mood, creativity, and even your physical strength? For too long, women have viewed their menstrual cycles as nothing more than an inconvenience—a monthly disruption to be endured, medicated, or ignored. But what if this cycle is actually your body's most sophisticated system of communication? What if understanding these "seasons" could transform how you work, exercise, create, and connect?
Monika Dowejko
5/1/20254 min read
The Hidden Wisdom We've Forgotten
Emma, a 32-year-old marketing executive, came to me last year with a familiar story. "I never know when my period is coming. Some days I'm exhausted for no reason. Other times I feel unstoppable, but can't predict when that energy will hit. I feel disconnected from my own body."
Emma's experience isn't unusual. Modern women have been taught to push through, maintain consistency at all costs, and treat hormonal fluctuations as problems to be solved rather than wisdom to be understood.
The villain in this story isn't your body or its natural rhythms. The real antagonist is the disconnection from our cyclic nature—a disconnection that leaves us fighting against our bodies instead of flowing with them.
The Four Seasons Within
Just as the earth cycles through spring, summer, fall, and winter, your body moves through four distinct hormonal phases each month. Each phase brings different strengths, different challenges, and different opportunities.
Season One: Winter - The Menstrual Phase (~Days 1-5)
Winter is a time of rest, reflection, and renewal. During your period, hormone levels are at their lowest, and your energy naturally turns inward.
In our "always on" culture, we're taught to push through this phase with pain relievers and caffeine. But research by Dr. Lara Briden, author of "Period Repair Manual," shows that honoring this natural decline in energy can lead to more creativity, intuition, and clarity.
Your Winter Strengths:
Deep intuition and clarity
Ability to see through illusions
Natural time for reflection and setting intentions
Heightened ability to identify what's not working in your life
Emma discovered that scheduling her strategic planning during her menstrual phase led to clearer vision and better long-term decisions. "I used to dread my period week," she told me. "Now I protect that time for the most important thinking work. It's when I have the most clarity."
Season Two: Spring - The Follicular Phase (~Days 6-13)
As oestrogen begins to rise after your period, you enter your internal spring. This is a time of growing energy, creativity, and openness to new possibilities.
According to Professor Jerilynn Prior of the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research, this oestrogen increase enhances verbal fluency and creative thinking.
Your Spring Strengths:
Rising energy and optimism
Creative thinking and problem-solving
Openness to new ideas and people
Ideal for starting new projects and learning
"I now schedule brainstorming sessions and pitch meetings during my follicular phase," Emma shared. "My team has noticed I come up with more innovative ideas during these weeks."
Season Three: Summer - The Ovulatory Phase (~Days 14-17)
Your hormonal summer is short but powerful. Oestrogen peaks, testosterone rises briefly, and your body prepares for potential conception. This isn't just about fertility—these hormonal changes affect your entire being.
Your Summer Strengths:
Peak energy and confidence
Strongest communication skills
Heightened presence and charisma
Ideal for presentations, negotiations, and social events
Research published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour has shown that women's faces and voices become subtly more attractive during ovulation. Your body literally shines during this phase!
For Emma, recognizing her ovulatory phase was transformative for her career. "I started scheduling my most important presentations and client meetings during those few days each month. My confidence is naturally higher, and I connect better with others."
Season Four: Fall - The Luteal Phase (~Days 18-28)
After ovulation, progesterone rises, bringing a natural shift toward detail orientation, critical thinking, and completion energy. This is your body's autumn—a time to finish projects, attend to details, and prepare for the coming winter.
Your Fall Strengths:
Detail orientation and precision
Strong critical thinking
Ability to spot errors and problems
Natural nesting and completion energy
According to Dr. Briden's clinical observations, the luteal phase brings "superpower attention to detail" that can be channelled into completing projects with precision.
"I used to fight my pre-menstrual weeks," Emma admitted. "Now I use that natural critical eye for editing presentations, reviewing contracts, and finalizing projects. Work that would frustrate me during other phases flows naturally now."
From Curse to Compass
Understanding your cycle transforms it from a monthly inconvenience into a powerful compass for navigating your life. When you align your activities with your hormonal seasons rather than fighting against them, everything changes.
Research from the FACTS (Fertility Appreciation Collaborative to Teach the Science) organization shows that women who chart and understand their cycles report:
Greater body literacy and self-confidence
Improved communication with healthcare providers
Better management of energy and mood fluctuations
Deeper connection with their intuition and natural rhythms
For Emma, the transformation went beyond productivity. "I no longer feel like I'm failing when my energy or mood changes. Instead, I have a framework for understanding these shifts and working with them rather than against them."
Beginning Your Journey
The journey to cyclical living begins with awareness. Here are three simple ways to start reconnecting with your body's wisdom:
Track your cycle - Note the first day of your period (Day 1) and begin observing patterns in your energy, mood, creativity, and physical sensations throughout the month.
Experiment with alignment - Try scheduling different types of work and activities according to your cycle phases and notice what flows more easily.
Honour your winter - Even small adjustments during your menstrual phase—like going to bed 30 minutes earlier or taking a break from intense exercise—can transform your experience.
Remember, this isn't about strict rules or perfect tracking. It's about reclaiming a connection that has been forgotten. It's about transforming your relationship with your body from adversary to ally.
In a world that values constant productivity and unwavering consistency, embracing your cyclical nature is a revolutionary act. It's also the path to sustainable energy, creativity, and wellbeing.
Your body has been speaking to you all along. Perhaps it's time to start listening.
About the Author: Dr Monika Dowejko is a certified Fertility Awareness Educator specializing in helping women transform their relationship with their menstrual cycles. Through education, coaching, and community, NatProFam is a movement of body literacy and cyclical living.
Sources: Dr. Lara Briden's "Period Repair Manual," Professor Jerilynn Prior's research at the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research, FACTS (Fertility Appreciation Collaborative to Teach the Science).
