Being Stripped Bare

Fall is my most favorite time of year, and here where I live this countryside just glows. I feel my thoughts turning towards family and homekeeping and all things domestic. It seems to me to be the perfect time for a wedding...think outdoors, golden, brilliant sunshine. Births have a fitting place this time of year too, because, well, a three-month old baby at Christmas time is simply heavenly. The funerals that happen especially in early November go symbolically with the changing of the season, and the dying of what has come to pass. It's the whole of life to me, somehow, if that makes sense, in the Fall.

But a close second is Winter.....

The stark, barren trees speak of Spring. The cold speaks of sunshine. The frozen ground speaks of new growth. These lessons are not lost on me. I also cherish the turning inward that naturally occurs....drawing curtains, lighting candles....a gathering time. My most important reflections come during the Winter when everything is stripped bare. There is no pretension with Winter, it's all crystalline in it's clarity, but sometimes it pulls a punch. There are days so dark and cold and empty of color that it shakes me to my core. I find I want to hide and pull the covers over my head. It's times like these that I sense I'm avoiding something within me, the being stripped bare thing, open and vulnerable....something needing attention. It's such a gift though, to be unsettled by the unknown, making it a moment ripe for exploration and discovery. For me, as with many I understand, it's a feeling of being with oneself.....alone. I do "alone" just fine, I learned how to do it out of necessity, but there are times when a certain introspection is required and the little nagging thought is maybe I just don't want to know what's under there. Maybe it will be a nudging towards something I've been putting off, or maybe it's forcing me to deal with the last vestige of being "on my own", and this can usually entail a decision of some sort that needs to be made....and I'm just avoiding it. Maybe for you the unsettling moments are pointing you towards a big upheaval, a life changing event you may want to put off or avoid altogether. But whatever it is, Winter in all Her stark loveliness is very good at laying things bare. My best inner growth that's just waiting to come forth happens in the Winter.

So I write this on a very cold night here, comforted by my surroundings and feeling grateful for all the cold nights I faced the foe within. Once faced, you come out a richer human being. Once the learning experience is understood, the nagging fades away, leaving only behind it the promise of Spring and sunshine and new growth.....especially new growth. Don't miss out, it's such a gift.

Until next time.....blessings upon your heart

Cindy

Comments

  1. When I was young I never thought of such things as earth seasons and a connection to life seasons. Had I paid attention life would be different for me now.

    Northern winters cannot be denied, hibernation is necessary for survival. You have learned to work with earth winter, and prepare your life's spring season of new beginnings.

    Good job and thank you for sharing.

    Blessings.

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  2. Another passion of mine is living "in the season" you're currently in, not rushing ahead to the next holiday....think of the stores and their rush to bombard us with seasonal "stuff". No, I would rather live "in the moment". Very Zen-like, don't you think?? :-) Thank you again for your support here.

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