Tuning In to the Wisdom of Winter
Winter marks another completion around the sun—a perfect occasion to contemplate what brings us the most joy and nourishment. Just like pruning dormant trees in the winter removes damaged branches and overcrowding to yield a healthy and bountiful crop come summer, winter can summon us to slow down and think about how to reduce what is depleting and unnecessary in our lives so we can focus our precious time and energy on creating more ease, happiness and fulfillment.
Hilary Nicholls— the powerful energy healer who will lead our free 30-minute winter Circle of Light guided meditation this Tuesday, December 14 at 5:15 Pacific (sign up here)—explains that winter wisdom encourages us to embrace more rest and self-care, which ultimately supports our creativity and productivity. “All regeneration, healing and renewal happens in the deepest place of peace. Feeling in tune with nature is an important part of nurturing ourselves emotionally, spiritually, and energetically.”
Hilary and I collaborated on the following essay for Quest readers and Spirituality & Health magazine. It will wake you up to the wisdom of winter and ask you to ponder whether you’re truly prioritizing what you treasure most in your life, and if you are still able to view the world with childlike wonder.
Tuning In to the Wisdom of Winter
When the weather gets cold, I hear many people bemoaning the short days and long nights as they pine for summertime. Not me! I love the winter.
My appreciation for the winter season began when I was a young girl living in Brooklyn. As soon as temperatures dropped to freezing, my dad would take me and my sister to the skating rink in Prospect Park, where I would glide around the ice to music, feeling gloriously free and graceful, surrounded by the enchanting magic of sparkling white snow.
After spending my high school years in the concrete of Manhattan, followed by countless hours inside classrooms and libraries earning a college degree, I was overjoyed to move to a farm in California. Most of the year, my husband and I worked hard from sunrise to sunset caring for our crops. Come winter, we were deeply grateful for a season that allowed us to sleep in and have enough time to bake bread, read books, and watch movies. Just like our fruit trees and heirloom raspberry bushes, we needed to rest up for the energy burst of spring.
Hilary Nicholls, a powerful energy healer who leads nature-based guided meditations, explains that for humans to flourish emotionally, physically and spiritually, especially in this modern world where so many of us are tethered to technology day and night, we need to feel our perennial connection with Mother Earth, which includes engaging with the rhythms and energies of her seasonal cycles. “Every season offers its special wisdom. Winter brings the opportunity to slow down and turn inward, beckoning us to come back to ourselves. It is also a time of letting go, and an invitation to deeply listen to our bodies and nurture ourselves with extra love and kindness.”
Nicholls believes that some of us turn away from winter because in the quiet of this season we often encounter a buildup of emotions that we didn’t take time to acknowledge and process throughout the year. “If we don’t allow ourselves to see and feel the darkness we carry within, we can project those feelings onto winter. It’s important to make space for our feelings—to listen to and learn from what they are telling us. Then we can begin to let go of what we’ve been carrying around so that we’re able to fill up with more of what we truly want.”
