One might find the coziness of winter, sitting by the fire and cooking stew to be enduring, while others may find the darker grayer skies and cold to be a drag and even depressing. The latter is common, but it is also a story we tell ourselves. Sure, there are many of us that prefer the warmth and activity of summer over winter, but what if we could rewrite that story.
Each season has its place, its rhythm and its purpose. Each season’s qualities bring about their own uniqueness, innate direction or inclination of action. All seasons are beautiful for what they do offer and we wouldn't have one season exist without the other.
Let’s look at plants. If summer didn’t exist, then a plant wouldn’t bear fruit on trees. If fall didn’t exist, we wouldn’t see the leaves change color and the outward energetic movement of plants start to go to their roots. If we didn’t have winter, we wouldn’t have the nurturing of the plant under the earth’s soil forming life again that would sprout a new bud in the spring time.
Winter is the ultimate time for returning to our roots, our home base, retreating in doors, sitting by the fire, reading a good book, going to bed early, and waking up later. The winter provides such a time when the outward moving energy we experience in the warmer months comes back into our bodies and literally into our version of our root, which is our pelvis.
The pelvis in a female born body, is where the womb space resides. It is a cavity of pure potential creation, much like how our universe was also formed from a dark void. The winter is similar in nature- it gives us a chance to return to the dark void, rest in it and tune into our own unique creative potential. Anything purely creative in nature comes from this space. We wouldn’t be able to generate anything brand new in the spring if the winter didn’t exist.
Sometimes this dark space can be scary or be perceived as sad or lonely. Sometimes those feelings do need to be looked at and felt, and understood more deeply. If that is you, my advice is to channel that into a creative outlet of some sort. Creativity does not have to look like our cultural perception of “art,” though it certainly can through song, dance, drawing, painting. Creativity can be journaling, cooking a new meal, painting something a brand new color.
This essence of creativity has nothing to do with outcome. Anything that results from creativity is a completely different energy altogether. When we create, it's tapping into something inside of you and expressing it, shaping it, sculpting it, for no other reason, than to just do it. Winter is a time of season for this especially if you have the energy for it.
The color of winter in Chinese medicine is black, the element is water, the movement is containment (as in a container of water), its organ system is the kidneys. Oftentimes if our kidneys or adrenal glands are over taxed, then simplicity and rest is called for.
If you do not have the energy for a new creative project, then it is a great time of year to sleep, rejuvenate, spend time in baths or water sources. You can take all extra projects off your schedule, and simply just be. That is a wonderful way to exist with the season of winter. Lower expectations on oneself and others, and instead of making something, just do less.
No matter what way you view winter, it’s a sacred time of year, just as sacred as any other. It would also be the time of year to connect with your ancestors or elders in a way that feels good to you. Remember them, honoring them, reading about them. One also could connect with anything ancient or something that provides ancient wisdom to come alive in the here and now.
Cherishing this special time of year and remembering what to do with the slower energy can help orientate us to embrace what is, which is a pathway to peace.
Happy winter everyone!