As I move through the valley on errands and with my gardening business, I can’t help but notice how abundantly big everything is this year.

Have you noticed it as well? Shrubs are growing wildly tall and fat, rose bushes are blooming profusely, the beautiful flowers on main street are an explosion of colour and I can barely fit the kale leaves from my garden into my fridge.

All of the glorious sun, heat, rain and even hail has been the perfect fuel for growth. Many people I have spoken with this summer have also noticed that things are just a little off. This has been most noticeable with some of the bloom times this year, earlier cooler nights and the apples, plums and cones falling from the trees already.

Apart from these details, what I find interesting is that so many people are noticing these slight shifts in nature around them and adjust accordingly.

For some people, these shifts can have a huge impact on their lives and how they conduct business. For others, it has little or no impact.

In our own personal lives, we know nothing stays the same yet many of us experience some degree of resistance when shifts or “changes” arrive.

Change is happening all around us to some degree, 24/7, and it’s our perception as to what we feel is a big or small change for us. For example, when we hear ourselves complaining or feeling overwhelmed and negative, these are all really forms of resistance.

A good question to ask yourself is: “What is one thing I can release, from where I am right now, to help me feel just a bit better?”

Try it and you will find a sense of ease and your perception will shift. The more you release the resistance, the more at ease you will feel. This doesn’t mean you go turtle up to the world. You can take a stance, feel a range of emotions, and you can go forward from of place of empowerment, energy and vitality rather than from a place of fear and resistance.

Elizabeth Shopland is a personal growth and development coach, a certified horticulturist, and the co-owner of Shopland Grow & Bloom. She can be reached at eshopland@telus.net and 250-342-1124.