Thoughts on a Winter Walk
Yesterday, I listened to my body, laced up my boots and headed outside to enjoy the somewhat rare moments of sunshine. I stumbled upon snow angels, beds where the deer had slept, crumbling, old, stone structures in the woods and into a beautiful clearing by the rivers edge.
How lovely it is to get lost in your own backyard.
Even in the darkness, winter buds are beginning to grow on the tips of the trees.
Even in the cold, the birds are out singing.
Even under the layers of ice, the river still flows.
When we feel stuck in a situation or are aching for clarity, we sometimes allow the fear and doubt of our ego to ice over our unending supply of creativity and connection to our soul and inner guidance.
But when we become still and allow ourselves to listen and tap in, the truth that dwells within flows up to our ears and into our hearts like the gentle, flowing winter river.
What I find to be true is when I ground myself deeper into nature, I can listen to the stories she has to share. I am learning her cycles and her rhythm. I am re-acquainting myself with these East Coast seasons, shifts and feelings. They differ from the rhythm and emotions of our home on the West Coast. I’m beginning to understand that we all have our own cycles and rhythm to live by… cycles and seasons of our lifetime and in our daily living.
We have our feet planted in two worlds. We have our body and we have our soul and it is in bridging these two that we live in connection with our every day.
The more I’m outside; the more I connect to my soul and myself.
The more I unplug; the more I can hear.
The more I’m in the darkness; the more I can see.
As I walk in the sunshine of the winter, as I move through the snow-covered woods blanketed with a thin layer of ice, as I listen to the stream rushing underneath the ice, I hear a calling to rest and reset.
Winter blows her cool song into my ear, “Be still and know who you are.”
All is well.
Be humble in your divine connection.
Love and nourish yourself right now from the inside out.
Stoke the embers in your hearth’s fire.
Soon it will be time to build a blazing fire.
But for now allow them, and your dreams, to simmer a bit longer in the long nights of winter.
Your prayers are being answered.
Trust and listen to your own rhythm.
Move in time to your authentic beat.
Know the season you are living is connected to the season of the Earth. Connect the two together. Integrate her rhythms with your own. This is your lesson, the seed of life asking to be birthed slowly in the darkness of winter.
Be still in trust, my sisters, knowing that our Great Mother is here with us and within the silent movements of the Earth, guiding us gently.
Like the necessary rest before birth or battle, we must listen to our bodies, tend to our needs, trust our intuition and place our attention and intention where we desire our seeds to grow.