Winter is the time of promise because there is so little to do – or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so.- Stanley Crawford

The wise and witty words of Stanley Crawford. Winter is about permitting yourself the luxury or rather the necessity of Doing Little, Being More. Think about what is happening in nature at this time of year – it isn’t madly growing, reproducing, pollinating, flowering profusely as a general rule. It is gives the appearance of stillness and for all intents and purposes it is still, just Being. Many animals hibernate during winter, having gathered their food stores in autumn and go within. Life of course, continues – we have little bursts of joy from plants such as camellias and later magnolias just to give us a reminder of the beauty of the season. The birds are still about though not so noisy and boisterous as in Spring. The sun still shines although not quite so warm and of course far less in some places. 

So when we think about winter and down time – it doesn’t mean stopping altogether. It just offers a little reprieve from the craziness of the other 3 seasons. It is still as important to be active in terms of keeping the body, mind and the emotions healthy – enjoying walks, bush walks in the cooler sometimes quite bracing winter air. In our family, winter is soccer season. We have a very balanced lifestyle in winter – a mix of outdoor physical activity during the week with training, weekend games of soccer, lovely bushwalks and climbing over the rocks at the beach plus the lovely down time of watching movies, playing board games or rugged up reading a book. We tend to go to bed earlier and enjoy the occasional (as often as we can) sleep in. 

We do less deep cleaning or decluttering, less gardening (weeds don’t tend to like winter much and the grass is in slow mo), less socialising (although it is still lovely to connect with friends but not like the Christmas sense of urgency to catch up with everyone we know before 25^th December), no events like Easter, Mothers Day to make us shop and fuss. Don’t let it pass you by, without being aware of this respite. 

To those who enjoy being active and busy all the time, I want to know where your secret store of energy is but seriously please make time to Just Be as well. Life and Nature shows us the importance of balancing Doing and Being. Spring and Autumn the seasons of Doing and Summer and Winter the seasons of Being. Funnily enough, most of us love the activity, the weather of the Doing seasons and are less inclined to enjoy the Being seasons. Is it perhaps it is easier to Do than to Be. It forms a pattern of action, reflection, action and reflection. We know that if we don’t spend time in reflection we tend to make the same mistakes, we often work harder not smarter to reach our goals and we can miss seeing the beauty, the purpose and meaning of life. 

Reflection according to a really old Macquarie Dictionary that I have is “a thought occurring in consideration or meditation”. Consideration means “to deliberate” which in turn means careful consideration. In other words reflection is careful consideration. 

Reflection then is purposeful, a chance to see things as they really are rather than being distracted or caught up in the emotion of life’s dramas. Just like when we look into a mirror, we can see what our physical body looks like – our reflection. Obviously, it might not be what we wanted it to be but in meditative reflection we learn to accept things as they are and making wise decisions to change what we can and understand any lessons our reflection(s) reveal to us. 

So then, winter time is a great time to get serious about your meditation practice. Meditation helps to relax the body in order to calm the mind. In calming the mind, we can separate thought from emotion, examine both working out how we truly feel or think about things past, present and future. What is working in our life and what isn’t, what can we do better, what do we need less of etc. 

They say a good walk clears the cobwebs – cobwebs are little traps that catch and hold onto their prey. So can the mind, catches and holds on to thoughts. Obviously a cobweb is the spider’s pantry and necessary for survival. However many of the thoughts that we get stuck with are not necessarily helpful for our survival and in fact at times could be quite detrimental. So walking meditation is indeed a great cobweb clearer. At first, observe foot placement – one foot, then the other, notice the pattern of lifting and placing, one lifting at the same time one placing. Notice the rhythm of your walk, speed up, slow down. Observe your body’s reaction to same. Use your five senses to savour the experience – the smell of the rain, the gardens, colours, sounds, touch leaves and bark. When you have completed your walk. Sit down, close your eyes, notice the body coming back to rest. You might like to contemplate the walk, your thoughts, revisit a situation that you are confused about to see if the walk has helped clarify things for you. 

In the tarot, there are several cards for reflection but I wish to draw your attention to two of the major (arcana) cards that pertinent. The Hermit – the picture depicts a lone figure with a grey cloak carrying a lantern. The Hermit suggests for you to be reflective to access your inner wisdom. He carefully considers his past actions to gain a clearer understanding of life. The second tarot card relevant here is the High Priestess, a female figure seated between to pillars, surrounding by mystical symbols, carrying a half hidden scroll. She suggests a time to go within to consider a problem or a situation, more specifically from a spiritual perspective. You can sit with either one of these cards and use them as a point of focus in meditation too. 

The Australian Bush Flower Essences that aid reflection include: Boronia to clear the mind of obsessive thinking (another cobweb clearer), Bush Fuschia to access intuition, Paw Paw to access your own inner wisdom. There are a few other remedies depending upon the type of meditation or reflection you want to do. Australian Bush Flower Essences have a combination remedy called Meditation Essence that is a wonderful tool to deepen your meditation practice too.

So this winter make time for meditation so that you are truly connecting mindfully into the cycles and seasons of life. 

Need any help with your meditation? Come along to one of my classes or a local one to you, organise with me a group of friends for a half day workshop on meditation or download a free meditation from the internet.  

And as a post script to this edition, I finished writing for the winter website edition around 1st June - in the space of 3 days of writing the magnolias were completely stripped and threadbare. Winter has made it's mark.

Stay warm and well.

Love & Blessings

Pam xx