Photo by Georgianna Lane via Pintrest/Etsy
I moved back to the midwest mid-May of 2019 and was so thrilled that the Universe had lined up this major life transition with such fabulous weather to welcome me home from California to Ohio. It made it really easy to think that somehow the weather would stay like this so I wouldn’t have to endure a Cleveland winter, the first in five years. To be honest, I’d been secretly bracing for impact and dreading the idea of bone-chilling cold, dreary grey skies, enormous snow banks and gross, slushy roads.
I’m reminded of the Universal Law of Correspondence which says,
“As above, so below. As within, so without.”
As things happen inside of us, they also are reflected outside of us, and vice versa. It’s interesting to me to see that my resistance was focused on the WORST parts of what I remember about a proper winter here, rather than the opposite. If I dread the winter, the Universe is going to conjure reasons for me to dread winter. On one hand, it’s sometimes human nature, particularly in those whom have experienced trauma, to do a constant, unconscious safety sweep from our lizard brain that easily highlights all the weak points in our chances to survive. Translation: Your brain shows you the dangers in order to protect you. Naturally, though, that’s where my teacher called EASE shows up to guide me down another possible path.
If ease is our nature, it begs the question, where’s the ease in winter? How can I invite the seasonal darkness in and make friends with it? How can I…*gasp*...even become lovers with it?
Hmmmmmmm….
Becoming a lover to the darkness...now we’re talking. This is something my inner sacred rebel is totally turned on by and eager to explore in it’s inherent revolutionary, rebellious nature.
In the same way that the cafe I write this piece in repels me because of its dark floors, walls and furniture in the summer, it now invites me in with its cozy, chill vibes and late hours when it gets so dark so early. There’s a time and a season for everything.
So what is the season of winter for? And how can I make this season really, really work for me, not just let it happen to me? It’s the core difference between enduring something and thriving in it. Do I want winter to happen AT me like a scary, enveloping, wintry blizzard that brings a whole city to its knees? Or do I want winter to happen FOR me like a cozy corner of my bedroom adorned with twinkle lights, clean-burning candles, a cozy cup of my favorite tea, soft, sensual music playing and my pen flying gently across the pages of my journal filled with inspired reflections and soul nourishing inner world explorations?
Which would you choose?
I was reminded by a soul sister of mine, Ashley Burnett, of the Danish word, “Hygge” (pronounced “Hoo-ga”). According to Oxford dictionary…
“Hygge” is a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.
This, my friend, is my new intention for this winter season.
Inviting the seasonal darkness in amidst candlelight just feels so yummy to me! All my senses love this idea. My heart is genuinely excited to “challenge” myself to make this winter feel as hygge as possible.
In the same way that while the trees and plants don’t have any external colors or leaves on them, they might look dead on the outside, but they’re anything but!
According to mnn.com (Mother Nature Network), “Trees go through a process similar to hibernation called dormancy, and that's what keeps them alive during the winter. Dormancy is like hibernation in that everything within the plant slows down. Metabolism, energy consumption, growth and so on. The first part of dormancy is when trees lose their leaves. They don't make food in the winter, so they have no use for masses of leaves that would require energy to maintain. The tree isn't making any new food for energy. It's similar to hibernation, since most animals who hibernate store food as fat, and then use it to run their essential systems during the winter, rather than grow any more. The tree's metabolism also slows down during dormancy, and this is part of why cell growth is impeded. Since it has to conserve the food it has stored, it's best if the tree uses it up slowly and only for essential functions.”
Fascinating!
“As above, so below” inherently implies that there are systems that kick into gear for us, too, during the winter months. Through the slowing down and more sleep that our bodies naturally want, there is repairing of cells, sending of nourishment to places that were highly active during the sun-drenched months and releasing what no longer serves us.
Nature has rhythms and cycles just like us. Instead of enacting resistance which actually tires and exhausts us (and is the killer of creative energy, too), we can embrace the slowness and inwardness that winter invites us NATURALLY to do. It’s literally too cold to go running around like we do in July in most places in the Northern Hemisphere right now. It takes MORE energy to keep at the pace we do in the spring/summer months because we’re literally not designed to do that year round. We end up getting sick as a very savvy mechanism by our bodies to slow our asses DOWN to rest, repair, sleep longer, detox and eat warming foods. But hear me when I say…
WE DO NOT NEED TO GET SICK IN ORDER TO SLOW DOWN. We can choose it. We can embrace it. We can welcome it. We can...dare is say...LOVE IT. The seasonal darkness can be our guide instead of a hindrance. We can invite it closer and cozy up to it and Netflix and chill with it. Know what I’m saying?
We can say no to some of the holiday parties and only say yes to the ones that induce genuine thrill in our hearts to go to.
We can let ourselves have zero plans on a Sunday and sleep, rest, gift ourselves orgasms, color, draw something, slow dance with ourselves, watch three movies, instead of packing in the rest of our to do lists.
We can look forward to an evening of trying out a new slow cooker recipe just for the literal joy and wonder of it instead of eating out for the third or fourth time this week.
There are so many ways to choose slowness, softness and coziness in the in between moments of our lives instead of blowing past this very precious side of ourselves that truly needs this space to breathe and integrate 2019.
Another one of my intentions for this winter is to intentionally close out energetic loops that might be sneakily still open from the breakup earlier this year, among other relationships that came to a natural shift, junction or closure. Where is my energy leaking to them unreciprocated? Where do I still hold on to how it might’ve been? Where am I judging myself in how I handled the curveballs that came my way this year? Zip, tie, disconnect, forgive, love myself and let...it...go.
My invitation to you is to embrace the energies of this season.
I don’t know about you but I don’t want to take ANY of 2019 with me that’s not meant to come with me. It’s been one of the hardest, most intense, fortifying years of my LIFE without an ounce of exaggeration.
I’m taking my lessons, my inner core strength, my reignited desires, endless creativity and the TRUTH of who I am AND LEAVING THE REST!
But guess what? Most of that leaving behind happens naturally during our sleep and slowness and naps and inward reflection time. Just as we release extra weight in our sleep, this applies to the emotional, energetic, and spiritual weight, too. I’m gonna make more room for this. I *really* hope you do, too.
As we invite the seasonal darkness to be our cozy friend this year, pick a word for this winter season that induces a feeling of exactly how you want to feel this winter.
My word is HYGGE. What is yours?
Start your week with EASE in mind
(and get first dibs on my newest blogs and word art!)
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