Embrace
“We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives.” – Gary Zukav
The rituals are the same each year. The final grass cutting, raking the remaining leaves, bring in the hose and check the snow blower. A 100 percent chance of snow tomorrow and the first snow of the season, winter officially begins. As if surprised by its return, we brace ourselves for winter.
Often we choose to brace for the worst rather than embrace the possibilities and promise in all that is before us. Wishing time away to move quickly past our “winters,” eagarly longing for our “springs.” Yet when we move through our winters fully awake, we find ourselves, our light in the cold and stark. Our resilience, our hope, our grit, our creativity. Winter brings a quiet time that slows us enough to listen, to hear.
So my wish for us all this winter eve is that we embrace our “Mondays” and “winters” with the vigor and anticipation of our “Fridays” and “springs.”
wonderful inspiration!
still i dream of spring 🙂
Thanks and me too. But I am going to cast myself into winter too – running, cross country skiing and a few snow angels.
Thanks for the inspiring wishes.
Vincent
Imagining the snow on the ground is sand on a beach.
Perfect message. I dreaded the cold and dark of winter as summer came to its end. As the temperature dropped and the trees began to drop their leaves I gratefully remembered that the winter months also bring a stillness and solitude which I embrace.
Stillness is good in this very busy world!!
Reblogged this on Gretchen Del Rio's Art Blog and commented:
As I scurry about preparing for the coming of winter I am called to remember the qualities that only these cold months can gift . And then I am peaceful.
Thanks for the reblog
Excellent post and thought. My blog is called ‘almost spring’ because I was in a bad place when I started the blog and, at the beginning of winter, positively focussed on the spring – physically and metaphorically. I was actually in a denial phase of my crisis and what I eventually came to discover was that I could not skip over winter and (in time) had to live through it.
Well, experience is a good teacher and winter in Chicago is not something we look forward to, for good reasons. Like traffic jams, car accidents, poor people living with the bare minimum of heat (it’s a law now, that landlords must provide some heat in the winter. The law was enacted after people were found frozen in their apartments because there was no heat), homeless people freezing to death on the sidewalks and in doorways, broken pipes, people having heart attacks while shoveling snow, people falling and breaking bones, animals, hungry, buried under drifts. Filthy snow pilled as high as trees, just to mention a few things. Perhaps if I lived elsewhere I could look at things differently. We don’t have much pristine snow around here, except in the forest preserves, which are too dangerous to walk through. This is a crowded and busy pace, transportation breakdowns cause massive problems. So being realistic…and admitting that we all love snow at Christmas, I just can’t help but wish it would pass us by. But I applaud your lovely words, even if they are hard to see from here.
Living in Minnesota my entire life, I understand the impact of winter on daily life, especially on the most vulnerable. I am blessed to not be one of them as many of us are. So it’s our responsibility to take care of those who can’t. Lamenting winter or wishing months away won’t solve the preventable problems and tragedies that you describe. And when we as a society and individuals put our time, attention and money into taking care of those that need it the most, we can make a real and lasting difference in our world. Pessimism and realism are at an all time high as are our problems. So I am going to choose optimism, light, work, diligence, hope, compassion while investing my resources and votes into those working to change lives and make a difference a person at a time.
I dream of Spring and Fridays but with this inspirational post I won’t give Monday’s and Winters such a hard time anymore!!! Hugz Lisa and Bear
Thanks Lisa – I working on embracing 18 degrees this week. Not easy but worth it.
Reblogged this on blondiesBEARista and commented:
I love this post!!
Thanks for the reblog