The Sunday RISE Newsletter
Welcome to newsletter content from November 2025. The RISE Newsletter launched on Sunday, 23 November 2025.
My weekly Newsletter will show you how to build health and wellness through your lifestyle, and teach you how what you eat can be your partner in health.
Build Your Health and Wellness through Lifestyle.
Sunday, 30 November 2025
As we are approaching the final month in 2025, if feels appropriate to consider the changing of seasons. Not just seasonal weather, or the ending of a year, but the changing seasons of our lives. We are meant to evolve and adapt in response to our changing environment and our age. When babies are born, we expect a rapid period of growth and development. As children become teenagers, we expect their views and behaviour to become more complex and independent from our own. As we move into and through our adult lives it is easy to forget that we are still the same being that has experienced these evolutionary cycles, and that it continues to be part of our journey.
Michael Meade, a mythologist, paints a beautiful picture of the transformation of the caterpillar into the butterfly. You see, the caterpillar is born with imaginal cells. These imaginal cells contain the genetic blueprint of the butterfly. The caterpillar reaches the point in its life cycle where it becomes tired of munching on leaves and it builds a chrysalis around itself. Within this chrysalis there is a period of resistance to change – the caterpillar’s immune system starts to attack its own cells until the only element that prevails is these imaginal cells. It is a period of returning, as the only thing that remains is the original blueprint of the butterfly that the caterpillar was meant to be.
In our adult lives, as we continue to move through our seasons, there are times where we become quiet to restore, times where we resist change, times where we mourn change and the loss of our previous season, and times where we rise with purpose and vitality. Wherever you are in your journey, remember that it was necessary for the caterpillar to build a chrysalis and resist its own transformation in order for it to return to its original purpose and have the strength to rise as a butterfly. Be kind to yourself as you approach the end of 2025.
Sunday, 23 November 2025
This week I have been pondering rituals and the difference between a ritual, a practice and a routine. The word ritual originates from the root word “ar” (Proto-Indo-European) which means “to fit together”. In Latin this root word is connected to the word “ritus”, meaning “rite or religious custom”.
To me, and it appears that many feel the same, a ritual is like a bridge which moves you from where you are to where you want to be. A practice or activity which is deeply personal. We have our daily practices and routines, however a ritual demands a deeper connection with ourselves. That is what makes it so special.
Your choice in ritual is as individual as you are, and you may have several which serve different purposes through your day. One of my most grounding rituals is to pause and look out across the landscape. It brings an inner stillness, a returning to the essence of who I am. If I think back across my life, it is a practice that I have carried with me and continue to return to.
As we move rapidly towards the holiday season, we have begun the family traditions of wreath making, decorating the house and putting up a tree. For me, this time is about connecting with the people I treasure. But I must say, I do love the twinkling lights and the excitement this festive occasion brings.is
