Something Is Shifting. Are You Paying Attention?

What Times of Change Can Reveal About What’s Happening Within

Have you ever gone through a period when life simply feels different? Nothing may have dramatically changed on the outside, yet something feels unsettled beneath the surface. You may feel more sensitive than usual, more reflective, more emotional, or strangely restless. Things you’ve been able to overlook suddenly become harder to ignore. Conversations affect you differently. Relationships reveal something you hadn’t noticed before. Your body may be asking for more rest, more quiet, or more space. You might even find yourself questioning things that, until recently, seemed perfectly fine.

I think there are times in our lives when something is shifting, even before we fully understand what that shift means.

We can respond to these periods by trying to make the discomfort go away as quickly as possible, or we can become curious about what the experience may be showing us. That doesn’t mean every emotion is a sign or every difficult day carries some profound message. Sometimes we’re simply tired, overwhelmed, or dealing with the realities of being human. Yet there are also times when several things begin surfacing at once, and I believe those moments deserve our attention.

Interestingly, we’re in one of those periods astrologically right now. The Sun has just moved into Libra, marking the September equinox and a natural seasonal transition. The Moon is moving through Pisces as we approach a Full Moon in Aries on September 26. At the same time, several of the slower-moving planets are retrograde, including Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Whether you follow astrology closely or barely pay attention to it, I find it interesting to consider these larger cycles as mirrors rather than predictions. I don’t believe we need to hand our power over to a planetary transit or assume that something outside of us is controlling our lives. What these cycles can offer, however, is another opportunity to pause and observe.

What is happening within you right now?

That question is much more important to me than trying to predict what is going to happen next.

The astrology surrounding this particular period carries an interesting theme. The Sun is approaching an opposition to Neptune, exact on September 25. Astrologically, Neptune is often associated with intuition, imagination, spirituality, compassion, ideals, and our ability to perceive beyond what is immediately visible. It’s also associated with fog, illusion, projection, and difficulty seeing something clearly. Almost immediately afterward, the Sun moves into a supportive trine with Pluto, exact on September 26, a planet astrologically associated with depth, truth, transformation, and what lies beneath the surface.

Taken symbolically rather than predictively, I think there’s something meaningful in that progression. Sometimes clarity doesn’t arrive immediately. Sometimes we first have to recognize that something feels unclear.

We’re often uncomfortable with that space. We want answers. We want to know what something means, what another person is thinking, what decision we should make, or how everything is going to turn out. When we don’t know, the mind has a remarkable ability to fill in the blanks. We create stories, imagine outcomes, revisit conversations, look for reassurance, and sometimes make decisions simply because uncertainty feels unbearable. Yet uncertainty can also be an invitation to become more observant.

Instead of immediately asking, “What should I do?” we can ask, “What am I noticing?” There’s an important difference between those questions. One rushes us toward an answer. The other brings us into awareness.

Maybe you’re noticing that something you once tolerated now feels uncomfortable. Perhaps you’re becoming more aware of how much energy a particular relationship requires from you. Maybe the pace you’ve been maintaining no longer feels sustainable. You may be questioning a belief you’ve held for years or recognizing that a role you’ve been playing no longer feels authentic. You might simply feel a desire for something different without knowing exactly what that difference looks like yet.

You don’t have to know. That may be one of the most important things to remember during periods of change. We don’t always need to understand the destination in order to recognize that something is shifting.

Nature reminds us of this constantly. A season doesn’t change all at once. There’s a transition. The light begins to look different. Temperatures fluctuate. Leaves slowly change. One day still feels like summer while the next carries the unmistakable feeling of fall. The old season hasn’t completely disappeared, but the new one has already begun.

Our lives can work the same way. There are periods when the person we’ve been and the person we’re cultivating ourselves to be seem to coexist. Old patterns are still present, but they don’t feel quite as comfortable anymore. Old choices remain available, but we begin questioning whether we want to keep making them. We may not yet know exactly what comes next, but we know we can’t continue unconsciously doing everything the way we always have.

This is where awareness becomes incredibly valuable. Awareness doesn’t demand that we immediately fix what we notice. It simply asks us to see it.

I believe many of us move through life responding to the loudest thing in front of us. We address the urgent email, the difficult conversation, the deadline, the family issue, the financial concern, the physical symptom, or whatever else requires our attention. Life can become so externally focused that we stop noticing what is quietly happening within us.

Then something changes. A relationship becomes strained. Our body starts speaking more loudly. We lose enthusiasm for something we once loved. We become more emotional or reactive. We feel restless without knowing why. We may interpret these experiences as problems that need to be eliminated when they may also contain information.

Our emotions contain information. Our reactions contain information. Our bodies contain information. Even the things that irritate us can sometimes tell us something about ourselves. The challenge is learning how to listen without immediately becoming consumed by what we hear.

This is where nervous system regulation becomes an important part of awareness. When we’re highly activated, everything can feel urgent. A thought feels like a fact. A fear feels like a prediction. An uncomfortable sensation feels like proof that something is wrong. We become more likely to react from the intensity of the moment rather than observe what is actually happening.

Regulation creates space. It allows us to notice the emotion without immediately becoming the emotion. It helps us recognize a thought without automatically believing it. It gives us enough room to distinguish intuition from fear, awareness from assumption, and what we actually know from the story our mind has created around it.

This feels particularly relevant during a period symbolically associated with both Neptunian sensitivity and Plutonian depth. If something is surfacing, we don’t necessarily need to run from it, but we also don’t need to immediately assign meaning to it. We can observe first.

This is one of the reasons the Four Pillars of CULTIVATE—Awareness, Healing, Empowerment, and Embodiment—were never meant to exist independently of one another. Awareness allows us to recognize what is surfacing. Healing invites us to explore what may be underneath it. Empowerment reminds us that we still have choices. Embodiment is where we begin living those choices differently.

Something may be shifting, but awareness helps us resist the urge to immediately label that shift as good or bad.

Maybe a relationship is changing because you’re becoming clearer about your boundaries. Maybe something that once felt fulfilling no longer does because you’ve grown. Maybe your body is asking for something different because you’ve spent too long overriding it. Maybe an emotion you thought you had moved beyond is surfacing because there’s another layer ready to be understood.

There may also be nothing you need to do yet. Sometimes the most conscious thing we can do is allow ourselves to observe before we act. That can be difficult in a culture that rewards action. We’re accustomed to fixing, solving, optimizing, improving, and moving forward. Yet there’s wisdom in allowing ourselves to sit with a question long enough to hear what is underneath our first answer.

What am I feeling?

What keeps getting my attention?

What feels different?

What am I no longer willing to ignore?

Where am I trying to force clarity because I’m uncomfortable not knowing?

What is my body communicating?

What in my life feels aligned, and what no longer does?

You don’t have to answer all of those questions today. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t rush through them. Let one of them stay with you. Notice what comes up over the next several days.

The Full Moon in Aries arrives on September 26, shortly after the Sun’s opposition to Neptune and around the time of its trine with Pluto. In astrology, Full Moons are traditionally associated with culmination, illumination, and seeing something more clearly, while Aries brings themes of individuality, initiative, and the courage to act. I see that combination less as a prediction and more as a beautiful metaphor: first notice what’s surfacing, then allow greater clarity to inform what you choose next.

That’s also why I don’t think conscious living means constantly searching for signs outside ourselves. It means becoming attentive enough to recognize what life is showing us while remaining connected to our own discernment.

The stars can give us something to contemplate. The seasons can remind us that change is natural. Other people can reflect things back to us. Our circumstances can reveal patterns we might otherwise miss.

Yet ultimately, the work still comes back to us. That’s the heart of self-cultivation. We observe. We become curious. We listen. We heal what needs our attention. We recognize where we have choice. Then, when the time is right, we begin doing something differently.

So if life feels a little different right now, you don’t need to immediately figure out why. You don’t need to make a major decision simply because something feels unsettled. You don’t need to assume every emotion is a message from the universe. Just pay attention. Something may be shifting around you. Something may be shifting within you. Quite possibly, both are happening at the same time. The more important question is whether you’re present enough to notice.

If this article has you wondering what may be asking for your attention right now, I invite you to Take the Self-Cultivation Assessment. It can help you explore which of the Four Pillars—Awareness, Healing, Empowerment, or Embodiment—may offer the greatest opportunity for growth at this point in your journey.

You can also Join the Community to Start Your Journey and continue exploring self-cultivation, conscious living, whole-body wellness, and practical ways to create meaningful change from within.

Self-Cultivation Begins Within.

Dr. Lisa ✨🙏