I love this time of year. I love the changing of seasons. Autumn’s radiant color and light. The waning light as the earth tilts on her axis away from the sun. The chill in the air and the crisp sounds and smells. I love first snowfalls - magical, white crystals dancing through the air and blanketing the ground. We have a lot to learn from nature during this time. Summer is a natural time to be outside, enjoying warm weather, staying active, gardening, traveling, socializing. We don’t want to squander a minute of warmth and sunshine. My energy is externalized as I enjoy al l that blossoms, grows, and flourishes. At Summer’s end, when Autumn comes, I’m ready to turn my attention in. Nature gives me the opportunity to do that. I think of all creatures readying for the colder months. Birds make their way to warmer climates, squirrels build nests, and gather food for winter stores. Dormice, hedgehogs, turtles, and snakes burrow and dig to find warmth and protection, then slow their systems down and sink into a winter slumber . I go through a similar process emotionally and spiritually in Autumn. As light diminishes and cool air seeps in, I love to go in, readying my home and myself for winter. Candles, music, and a warm fire adorn my l iving space. Fi rst autumn plants and decoration, then twinkle lights, evergreens, and holly berries. If I can’t be outside as much, I bring the outdoors in. I spend more time cooking, using all the foods that have recently been harvested. Squash, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, beets, turnips - all those smells wafting from the oven. Stews and soups simmer on the stovetop. Favorite holiday recipes spill out of the recipe box and into the oven. It’s a time to delight in dishes that accentuate the season. I decorate my home with greens and lights and little things that my sons made when they were boys. I look through the eyes of a child and see the magic of the season.
I love expressing my gratitude and love with gifts and acts of service.
And I extolled my internal season with reflection, contemplation, and gratitude. This season affords me the opportunity to express my love of friends and family, my gratitude for life, and my honor of nature. In her book Wintering, The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, Katherine May describes how we can learn from our coldest, darkest season when we go through challenges in our lives. She eloquently traverses the changes Winter brings in the natural world, the ways in which we cope, and how we find beauty and restoration through nature’s example. She shows us how to learn from this process when the seasons change in our lives. I have experienced many Winters in my life. I am in one of those “Wintering” places now, healing from a spinal fracture. I have had to slow my roll to a crawl, then a slow walk, not quite ready for a quick pace yet. It happens to coincide with my favorite seasons and it is not lost on me that what I do every year, this internal journey, has taught me how to embrace this time. How to allow space to heal, while keeping my heart open and not giving into the darkness. I am creating light and life to keep the darkness at bay, not just with candles and evergreens, but with reading and creat ive projects and connections with people I love. I am allowing the healing, not rushing it or longing for it. I am staying in the season I am in, with absolute faith, because seasons always change. As we approach the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice, I am reminded of the hope that this season brings. It brings us inside slowly, waiting for the hope that comes with the “turning of the year”. The day that the light begins to return, minute by minute each day, as the earth begins to tilt again.
| HOLA SOBER| IMADRID |
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker