When you're tempted to Ho! Ho! Ho! your way through the winter
Here in the Pacific Northwest winter is wrapping us in shorter days and colder nights. How easy it would be to shut out winter's chill and dark. But to turn her away would be to deny her sacred work.
WINTER TAKES HER OWN TIME... ESPECIALLY OUR OWN INNER WINTER
In the wind, I hear her whispering, "Why resist me, dear one? My work cannot be rushed." 🌬️ She's blowing my heart wide open.
This year I've decided to just 'be' with my own inner winter more deeply and consciously than ever before. To retreat a little and welcome her as Divine Creator. To embrace her gifts of rest, no-doingness, and no-knowingness as powerful catalysts for growth and healing.
I sense that if I don't allow her, she will keep coming around until her divinely appointed work is done.
Something I read recently resonates deeply with the work of winterly allowing (from Martin Shaw, one of my favorite storytellers):
“The deep dark surrounds us. It’s tempting to ho! ho! ho! your way through such an enveloping with pints and cocktails, but I think we should make the most of it. Lean into it, be a little less available.”
Be a little less available. A concept that's neither encouraged nor well tolerated in these times, right? But what if you lean into it? It sounds so good. Not in the way of a guilty pleasure, but a sacred calling.
Less available to your thoughts. Less available to who you think you are in the outside world. Not by pushing and resisting. By simply being.
This winter work might look and feel like melancholy, sadness and introversion. That's ok, try not to resist any of it. Remember you are never alone in this... you are more loved and supported than you could ever imagine.
And... when no one outside seems to understand what you're going through, find a soul friend who can hold your hand and remind you that all is well... and that this work will transform you and everyone around you in unexpected, miraculous ways.
In growing joy and expanding peace, Susie