How to use the LWTM Holistic Lifestyle Planner
1. What is its purpose?
I have been publishing these calendars since 2007, and they have undergone various formats. The description below is relevant for the online calendar in the Month Ahead section of the Living With The Moon website.
I was lucky to have been exposed to much knowledge about biodynamic calendars and this ancient, passed-down lifestyle by my family, particularly my grandmother. I have always been fascinated by it. However, the downside was how to navigate these complicated charts, marking ‘auspicious’ dates and events. I just did not have the time to work it out each day. Then one day, I decided to create a colour-coded chart with symbols to make life easier and to spot good days at one glance. Finally, I had a way to just look it up and know instantly what is a good task and plan.
The LWTM Lifestyle Calendar is derived from the Ancient Mesopotamian lunisolar calendar and is oriented after the path of the sun and the moon, taking into account both the date and the ‘day quality’. This calendar formed the backbone of most agricultural systems for millennia and was used well into the 20th century. Both the sun and the moon are important for the climate and are instrumental in growing crops. The sun’s importance has always been acknowledged. But the moon was more described as a pretty object in the sky, vaguely connected to the waves. But not much has been said that it is the moon that keeps the Earth on a stable path, and is most likely one of the main reasons that life on Earth can exist at all. Here is a video that explains this in more detail.
Nowadays, modern farming techniques, fertilizers, and pesticides rely less and less on the natural cycles, often with devastating consequences for the soil and its inhabitants. With global warming and soil reduced to worthless dirt, there is finally a reckoning that the old ways had their plus sides, too. Many farmers/gardeners are now looking to grow again in an organic and biodynamic way, and with it make these calendars relevant again. As my grandmother said, ” Days not only have dates but also day qualities”. I am often shocked by how little people know about these old systems. We know the date, but little else.
How to find the day qualities?
Do you feel the same every day? Probably not, neither do I. Some of it is external factors, like bad weather, whether it’s a weekend or workday, or events that are beyond our control, and we feel angry/frightened/happy. But apart from these unavoidable things, when you record your mood carefully, you often can discover patterns. These are subtle, but now you have a way to note them down.
Therefore, apart from the date, you will also find the moon phase and the elemental day quality. This is how the lunisolar calendar developed, by careful observations, passed down since 800. B.C to now. We are talking of over 2800 years of observations.
I am just scratching the surface of this gigantic knowledge with this calendar. I have created many more categories and symbols with a lot more information, but the online calendar just shows a few of the symbols and is meant as a way to introduce you to this huge topic.
When you come to the current calendar page, it shows a view of the whole month, and next to it, the highlighted symbols for the current calendar day. Please click the description of each symbol, and a lot more information comes up. Over time, you will get fairly familiar with each symbol, and just by looking at it, you will instantly recognise its meaning.
Why is it called a holistic lifestyle calendar?
When I published the first calendars on this website in 2008, the feedback was very good. At last, we had a calendar showing the moon phases, elements, and highlighted activities, all transferred into practical, usable advice. Once in place, I became curious about how the various calendars were created, who came up with the idea of ‘the elements’, and finally stumbled across the holistic approach by Aristotle.
Over time and looking at my own life, I realized that happiness depends not just on how much you do/work, but also on what you focus on, particularly having a balanced approach to life. A typical example of an unbalanced approach is someone who dedicates all his/her life to a career without consideration of family life, the home environment, and relationships. The same is true for someone who nurtures the family but lacks confidence and effort in other areas. Nobody can be 100% balanced, but when I look at the happiest people I know, what they have largely in common is a relatively balanced approach to life.
This got me thinking, and when I read Aristotle’s definition: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, a lightbulb moment appeared. Why not organize tasks not only by best timings but also categorize them? Once the formula was completed, I tried to distribute these symbols, as far as possible, in a balanced way. Some dates still favor certain categories, but overall, it evens it out.
‘ Rome was not built in a day,’ and I am sure this calendar will evolve further with other people’s input, new observations, and discoveries as time progresses.
Looking Good: The turquoise symbols show advice for your health/beauty regimes/body.
Your physical well-being.
Happy House: The green symbols show the best dates and information for gardening and home care.
Your environment
Feeling Love: The pink symbols deal with relationships, friendships, human connections, and fertility
Your relationships
Career, Time Management, and Money: The blue symbols show tips for this subject.
Your finances and feeling professionally fulfilled
. Feeling Great: The yellow symbols deal with happiness and mindset.
Your creativity, spirituality, and mental well-being.
How to use the symbols?
You can find the online calendar in the section The Month Ahead, and hopefully, it should be quite straightforward to use.
I suggest you bookmark the calendar page for easy repeat access.
Firstly, look out for the moon phase. You will get to know the recurring 2-week Waxing Moon cycle, followed by the Full Moon and the 2-week Waning Moon cycle, followed by the New Moon. Please click on the moon symbol descriptions to find out what the moon phases mean.
Then look out for the element symbol – Fire, Earth, Air, or Water. Again, look up the descriptions as described above.
Now you have a fairly good idea of what kind of day lies ahead.
Initially, look out for a few symbols and get familiar with them. Start with some easy ones, like watering your houseplants, cutting hair, etc. Ideally, pick one symbol from each area, so you will have 5 symbols to get started with. You can search the online calendar for more dates that show the symbols you are interested in.
How can I find specific dates of activities to plan ahead?
For this scenario, I have created the section What Shall I do Today? This useful calendar tool is currently only available to subscribers of the free monthly newsletter. If you are interested in this, but not currently subscribed, please follow this link
To access it: Find the private member access code at the bottom of the newsletter and go to the homepage, click on the Calendar tab. Choose the 2nd option from the drop-down menu, what shall I do today, and enter the code (please make sure to use capital letters!) For regular use, it is best to bookmark this page.
The current month will come up together with a bar called categories and a search bar. You can either scroll through the categories and choose an option or type what you are looking for directly into the search bar.
Then only this symbol will show up on the calendar, and it is easy to mark down all the upcoming dates in your diary. This is a good tool for planning specific activities well in advance, for example, when booking a session at the hairdresser’s, when to plan a financial pit stop (I call these dates, when you bring bills and payments, etc., in order), or when organizing a party.
What happens if I can’t make this date?
I give you the best dates, but life is busy, and it is not always possible to do activities on those dates. It is like rowing a boat in the sea. You can row anytime, but if you go with the tide, you glide, and it is easy. If you row against the tide, it is choppy and harder. But the worst outcome is not to row at all. So use these symbols as a hint to get things done, and if you fall slightly behind, either make up on a less ideal date or look up the next best dates on the calendar.
Finally, here is my crutch on how to get all my tasks done. I fill in my goal planner at each New Moon and try to stick to my goals. It is a bit of work to find out what you want and plan accordingly. Like going on holiday, first, you have to research where to go and book your trip, then you can enjoy the destination! The same applies here. Once you have your life plan in place and fill in your sheets (this is a must as you can not remember it!), all you need to concentrate on is to follow it and tick it off.
Thinking big at first, seeing the goal, and working backward by splitting the journey into small, achievable steps, will make sure you don’t deviate from your path. From my own experience, once you have a plan, check it against the 5 areas and make sure your goals are fairly balanced. My grandmother said You can do anything, but not all at the same time!
There will be months and years that are dedicated more to nurturing a family, building a home, taking on more work responsibilities, traveling, etc. Whatever it is, make sure that overall – seen over a few years – you do achieve a healthy balance. The Annual Goal Planner is a great tool for this exercise. You can download it here
Just one last thought. Working out the right goals and following through will make sure you always travel in the same (right) direction and not in circles. Even better, the results compound, and it will get easier, and the results, baby steps at first, will soon become visible to others.
Now you have the steps to follow, the rest is up to you! It sounds simple and easy, but it needs dedication and effort. But I think it is worth it!
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