Nature is our greatest teacher of how to be in relationship with the world and with our selves. On this solstice day let us consider the gifts contained within the season of Winter. During this season of dormancy we are reminded to slow down, to go within so that we may reflect on our lives. It is a time to renew our resources and ourselves. In doing so we heal many things that are out of balance in our hearts, bodies and minds.
Do you feel like you are missing something regarding this concept? I believe that is because we have been conditioned to think that we must be ever busy. If we are not striving or continually at some task we may feel unproductive. I disagree! When we constantly are in motion we begin to lose our ability to rest, to renew and to heal. There is immense value in learning about and living the season of Winter. It is productive in a different way. In a way that restores us.
Spring follows Winter seasonally, but how do we expect to arrive at Spring and the gifts contained there without taking time for Winter? There can be no renewal without rest, no new birth or rebirth without time to gestate or nurture those concepts and dreams that we want to birth in the coming Spring. The seasons build upon each other in their gifts and teachings for how to live in balance within ourselves and with all of life. If we don’t make use of them we become stuck and stagnant. This is where disease and dissatisfaction arise.
Slow down! Go within. Look to nature and what is happening out there, then bring those concepts into being for your self. Things withdraw in Winter, trees pull their sap down deep inside. Many animals become less active or hibernate. The weather becomes colder in many locales. It seems as though life doesn’t exist, but it does! It has just taken on a different form. It is resting, preparing, dreaming, and incubating all of the necessary things for life to emerge again in the Spring.
Winter gives the chance to reflect and ponder what is happening with you. It is possible that you may connect with a higher guidance. These are some of the gifts of the Winter. There is great beauty in the Winter, sometimes it seems ethereal. Don’t let it pass you by.
