Winter Solstice: Embracing the stillness
At this time of the year we are usually frantic with preparations for the holidays that we may not recognize that winter solstice passed us by on the 21st. If you were one of those who did find time to celebrate, congratulations! For those who may have missed it, it’s perfectly fine to take some time as soon as you are able to stop, sit in silence and reflect on the year that has passed.
Winter solstice is the time of the year that even the sun stands still for a moment. It is the shortest day of the year and marks the beginning of daylight hours becoming slightly longer. Which seems a bit odd right? With the rush of holidays, I don’t think many of us even have a chance to really let the less hours hit hours. It’s after the holidays, when we are back to the work grind, when all we seem to see is darkness from the time we get up to get ready for work, to the time we get off work and on our way home. Then the darkness really seems to set into our minds. It can make winter seem like a very dreary time.
And that is why it is so important to take time to recognize the solstice. To see winter not as this dreary, dark time but as a time to stop. To sit in the darkness and hear ourselves. To meditate, reflect, admire how this change of the season can bring so many together while also slow things down a bit to allow us time to think, remember, reflect, and just be in the moment. That is what the darkness allows us. To be in the moment without needing to rush. If we see it as an opportunity rather than as something negative, perhaps we can make the best of this time for spiritual and personal growth without actually pushing ourselves to do more. We only need to push ourselves to stop, to sit and absorb the silence into our being.
Honoring the winter solstice
What are some great ways to honor the winter solstice?
Take 15 minutes in the evening and journal about what you would like to release and what you would like to nurture. Visualize shifting into this new person gradually through the season. What are some things you can journal about?
Make note of things you have learned or accomplished this year.
Write down what is no longer serving you and then rip it out of the journal and safely burn it or rip it up.
Acknowledge the pain of those you have lost this year. Maybe friendships that moved on, special individuals who have passed recently or even in the past. Acknowledge and release the pain so that you can be grateful for what they taught you or gave you in your life and how you can honor that in your choices.
Bring in some natural elements to keep your touch with nature. Pine cones, pine branches, winter berries, wild holly, birch bark…. What ever elements are available in your neck of the woods.
Take some time over a warm cup of tea. Choose a tea that has some warming notes to it, like cinnamon, turmeric and ginger,…. Not a big tea drinker, any warm drink such as hot apple cider, cranberry cider or hot chocolate are all in alignment with warming your body and spirit. Sit and watch the sunset and let your mind wander and just be in the moment. You can choose to write your random thoughts down or merely sit and be.
Connect with others during this time - not just for the holidays or dutiful necessity. Find ways to spend time with others. Whether that is old friends, family member you don’t stay in enough contact with, or even volunteering to connect with others in a new way.
Give a little prayer of thanks. Something along the line of “ I am grateful for this darkness allowing me find stillness at this time. As each day brings the tiniest bit of light in the day, may it also help me to grow in wisdom, gratitude and understanding. Thank you for my shadow, for the lessons on my dark days and the knowledge that light will always return.”
Embrace winter’s stillness
There is so many days of the year that we tell ourselves “ I wish I just had a day to do nothing, that things would be quiet and still so I can think straight”. This is that time. The time for self care. The time to give ourselves permission to slow down, bask in the stillness and darkness. Take time to appreciate those in our lives, past or present, while also appreciating what we have accomplished in our life. Soon, the light will become brighter and longer and we will feel compelled to do, to go, to be out and about. But for right now, rest. Relax, reflect and give yourself permission to just be.
Take your lesson from nature that surrounds you. Trust that time for growth and spreading your wings will come but for now, you need to let nature do what it does, without forcing anything to be different. Bask in this silence, this darkness, this cold that helps us to appreciate the heat.
Open your eyes to harsh sunlight as it reflects off the snow and ice. Appreciate how nature still finds a way to bring us light and beauty through snow, icicles and bringing us closer together to pass the time. Breath in the dry, cold air that can be invigorating in it’s briskness and sharpness. See how life continues on, but at a slower pace. That while the tree branches look grey and dead, they too are resting, waiting and trusting in nature to bring it back to life.
I hope that each of you find unexpected guidance, gratitude and insight in this period of dark as we move towards the light. I also hope that when the days seem particularly difficult, that you can sit still and reflect on what a blessing this time truly is.
Blessing to you all throughout this winter season.
