It's Still Winter - Relax Into the Season

Yesterday a friend shared she had to take her Christmas Tree down and she was feeling sad about it. I looked around at my holiday themed living space, and felt for her.

I understand with a live tree, that it does have an expiration date. The needles turn brown and begin to drop. We do have to read the signs. But to in one day move out of what was originally designed to help us get through the dark winter, just because it is January, that is difficult to accept as a healthy practice.

It's still winter. The lights and greenery are meant to help us through this darkest time of the year. Our commercial industry has everyone forgetting why we put up a green tree with lights and huddle around singing and celebrating.

It is a very dark time, without the traditions of Saturnalia, Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Celebrations of light. Celebrations during the darkest part of the year. And for those of us in the northern hemisphere, this is the coldest time of the year

We go to the stores and they try to hurry us through the year. Always searching for more money in our pockets, the holidays whiz by. Halloween was over before October. Christmas and Hanukkah themed item were for sale before the end of October. And Valentine's Day was being displayed before the end of December.

Why? Why hurry us through the year? We know it is a way to have us brainwashed into spending more and more money, always looking into the future, and what is coming.

There is a better way. It's called being in the present. Listening within. Connecting with the Earth and the seasons as they languidly move us around the wheel of the year.

It is January. After looking around my living space, decorated for the winter in warm reds and greens, filled with hygge, I felt comforted. The atmosphere is warm, and filled with twinkling lights and reminders of the season.

To me it isn't about a day. It's a seasonal thing that helps me remain connected to Mother Earth throughout the year. I do my best to stay connected to the natural rhythm and adjust my inner sanctuary to keep me in the spirit of the season.

After Imbolc, in February, I will begin to adjust the decor to move towards the feelings of Spring. If it feels right. Much like what has become Groundhog's Day, more correctly called Candlemas, we are asked to go outside and look for signs of spring. Traditionally we used to bang drums and stomp on the ground to wake up Mother Earth. To me that is when we begin to move our energy, feelings, outlook and decor towards spring.

But not until there are signs in nature that we are moving in that direction. I do my best to not let the stores and the advertising push me through the year. Somedays I have to walk past Michael's when they are pushing the whole year past us, before it has actually begun.

It isn't time to let go of the red blankets and twinkling lights. It is January. It will remain dark and cold for some time. Even with Global Warming's confusing fluctuations in temperatures throughout our midwestern winter, it is good to remember it is still winter.

We need each season and it is good to remember what it really means. Winter is meant to be a time to go within. To crawl in your warm, cozy cave and contemplate what you need to know. It is an important time to learn from the past, and set intentions on how you want to improve your own future.

Let the seasons be what they are meant to be. Relax and be with the Winter time. Allow yourself to be in your home, with a lit candle, and some twinkling holiday lights. Remember the importance of the time when the light will return, by being at peace with the dark. We can appreciate the spring more, when we embrace the winter.

Being in touch with the true rhythms of the Earth can help you live a healthier life. Stepping outside each day, touching the Earth, observing where the sun is in the sky, and truly allowing yourself to be a part of this natural world is important every day of the year.

As you notice the sun low in the sky, or how brightly the stars twinkle in the cold, you may find yourself appreciating the easy, relaxed rhythms of the natural world.

There is no need to hurry, unless the needles are falling from your tree, to push the wheel. The year will move you in a beautiful way, if you learn to be with it.

I will keep the extra holiday lights up in my house as long as I need them, to help me through the dark winter nights. I will appreciate the warm, red blankets and pillows, the cozy atmosphere, as the year progresses into it's next lovely phase.

All a reminder to allow ourselves, as well, to find the inner rhythm, a flow, if you will, in which our optimum energy, growth and evolution can happen. Stay with the natural world. Be in touch with an organic rhythm that connects you with all that is.

And you will be able to ignore the clammoring of the outside, material, commercial world that is only interested in selling the next holiday that lives down the road. Enjoy the holidays, yes, but also remember to enjoy the seasons. Let them move in and through you. You are a part of the natural world. Let your home reflect the seasons and enjoy the time you get to spend just being in that space.

You will know when it is time to make changes, without it having to be an abrupt overnight take it all down kind of thing. The leaves don't fall in one day. The flowers don't bud in one morning, so do not push yourself to make it all go away, erasing every sign of what was, in a short amount of time.

Let yourself move in and out of the seasons as nature does. Maybe I will put away certain items as I feel moved. Leaving what fits the winter season another month or two.

And so can you. Relax. It is still winter. Keep what you need to enjoy the wintertime best that you can.

Bon Hiver!