The Great Cosmic Reset: Finding Stillness this Year

Have you felt the energy shift in the air lately?

As we navigate this particular season, our personal lives have coincided with a once-in-a-lifetime energetic convergence. Within a single 24-hour window on February 17, we witnessed a rare alignment: the onset of Ramadan, the beginning of Lent, and the Lunar New Year. Couple that with the recent annular solar eclipse in Aquarius and a weighty, profound Saturn-Neptune conjunction, and it becomes clear: there is a palpable, collective cosmic reset occurring.

Part of this reset involves stepping into the Year of the Fire Horse. In Chinese astrology, the signs and elements cycle so that the Fire Horse appears only once every 60 years—the last was in 1966. The Horse represents freedom, deep intuition, and untamed movement. When paired with the element of Fire, you get a fiercely independent, deeply passionate energy.

Essentially, my reading of this is that Fire Horse energy is the universe giving us permission to stop being limited by external expectations. For those of us in spaces of activism, art, and healing, it encourages us to muster the raw courage needed to finally break old patterns and step into a more authentic, untamed version of ourselves.

Because the quality of this energy is so wild and fast-moving, if we are not skillful, it is easy to be swept away or 'ambushed' by it—leading to burnout and a sense of overwhelm. It is important to explicitly emphasise that 'reset' does not mean we have to rush forward just to keep up with the world’s quickening pace.

In fact, this intense period of global realignment calls for the exact opposite. It is an invitation to slow down, to ground ourselves, and to root our feet deeply into the earth before we can safely kindle the kind of fire energy necessary for these times. It is a vital call to pause—to note the big and small moments that open us up to being fully present.

Lately, many people have reached out to me with a mix of curiosity and slight anxiety at the prospect of 'Noble Silence.'The idea of muting all input—no music, no reading, no scrolling—and exclusively focusing on sitting in silence can feel scary. For many of us, noise has become a way to numb unaddressed wounds; trying something different feels like stirring up old injuries.

The patterns we are currently caught in—this constant cycle between overload and overstimulation without ever 'offloading'—are broken. Beyond the digisphere, our physical world has also shrunk; many of us find we lack the wherewithal to socially engage or feel a sense of true belonging. If we want to heal and reclaim our sense of self, our sovereignty, and our interconnectedness, we need a radical shift toward slowness.

Four Pathways to Restoration

1. Slowness as a Filter, Not a Flaw. The world we navigate values relentless 'efforting' and busyness. Slow living allows us to treat our attention as a sacred resource—shape-shifting our boundaries to filter in a quiet, curious observer while filtering out the static that blocks our path to wholeness.

2. The Invitation is a Journey to Here. Mindful living pulls us out of the 'trance of productivity'. It moves us beyond transactional exchanges and invites us back into true reciprocity. This is a radical reclamation of our whole selves as the ultimate offering, rather than a resource to be depleted.

3. Success Measured in Resonance. While global systems demand 'reach' and 'growth,' we choose resonance. If our success is defined by making one person stop, breathe, and feel a stir of recognition—that sense of I belong here—then we have done our job.

4. Reflection as a Radical Act. An invitation to reflect, rather than an instruction to act, is a rare gift. Through tactile practices like doodling, knitting, or handmaking, we reconnect with somatic energy, the wisdom of our hands, and intergenerational memory. It is a homecoming.

Moyo Tulivu Silent Retreat

On Saturday, February 28, we are holding our one-day noble silence retreat, Moyo Tulivu (Calm Heart), in Makuyu. If you cannot join us physically, I invite you to participate right where you are using these self-guided framework graphics. If you would like me to email them to you or your organisation for free, do reach out to mindfullness_maven@protonmail.com.

Take what resonates. Leave what doesn't. 🦋