I pondered for a while of leaving the north for warmer climates but then I realized that part of my inner balanced is tied to the dark months of the north to reflect and gather strength for the growing and harvesting seasons of life
I turn to poetry. I can read one that warms me, one that gives me hope, one that makes me laugh or cry. Songs sometimes too, as lyrics can be the best poetry.
The heavy snow and cold often keeps us at home. This offers a time to reflect on all things that we love and fear. Too often, we are so busy rushing here and there, we let the things that truly matter pass us by. It also allows us time to reset our priorities around these things and to treasure what we hold dear and work on our fears.
And remember, the Light and the Loving is always with us! Even when it seems dark in the winter, they remain with us all four seasons. Yes, this will be hard, but we must retain the hope for a massive leaning in toward the Light. We can manifest this and we must not give up or surrender. Namaste!
Carrie, I love your combination of different media. It is so warm and personal and inviting. Plus your poetic description of your winter walk, what a delight. Thank you.
I am more of a Spring girl but I have found as I age Winter gives me the time to rest, regroup and be content in my surroundings.Then I can be ready to step in to Spring ready to go. Carrie, I just can't thank you enough for the last 3 paragraphs in this writing. I had been feeling like in the play Richard III "the winter of our discontent." But it will be our poets, our artists, our good, loving, kind people that will get us through this discontent. I will be reading this again on January 20th and I will share it with my friends and family to lift their spirits too. I am sending BIG hugs to you.
In southwestern Indiana, we have just come through a challenging week of snow, ice and then more snow. It has been stunningly beautiful but also highly impactful to trees and humans. For a week the trees were encased in an inch of ice resulting in many down limbs and trees on power lines causing widespread power and internet outages. Now that the trees have been released from their prisons and we, once again, have power, I find myself longing for those 3 days of snuggling, puzzles by daylight, dinner by candlelight, reading by headlamp and early to bed. It was quiet, and dark and we all were released from many of our obligations, allowed to slow down and live simply for a bit. I have always seen winter as the quiet season, giving myself permission to rest, to think. In recent years I have certainly not lived my winters in that way. This past week was a little reminder. As for the next 4 years, I don't think I can look at them as a long hard winter. Winter does not deserve to be associated with what is likely coming our way.
Thank you so much for this stirring beautiful piece of writing and for reminding us “that we can do this hard thing.” When you mentioned the grey of winter- a medley entered my mind of “A Touch of Grey”. “We will get by.”
One of the many delightful insights shared by Katherine May in her personal narrative, “Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat”: “Here is another truth about wintering: you’ll find wisdom in your winter, and once it’s over, it’s your responsibility to pass it on. And in return it’s our responsibility to listen to those who have wintered before us.” She calls it “an exchange of gifts in which nobody loses out.” (Riverhead Books; New York. 2020.)
In Iowa, the winds are cold and snow covers everything. I like this time of year because it gives me time and focus to do lots of reading. I think the stories of others warm our hearts and fill the aloneness that can sometimes estrange us from others. The darkness points us toward the light and hope of those that surround us. Stories bond humanity and helps us see each other brothers and sisters--creations of the same great Artist in an adventure love story.
Thank you Karleen, yes it is stories that connect us….and sometimes divide us…depending upon who is telling the story and the goodness (or divisiveness) of their intent. How important it is to hear and tell those stories that remind us of our shared humanity and yes “creations of the same great Artist in an adventure love story.”
I think your concept of "wintering" is very true both literally and metaphorically. Life as well as nature, seems to me to be cyclical. Thanks for the optimism and the cool video!
It all comes around it seems…I imagine you know of many philosophers who mused on the cyclical nature of things, how things change and yet we circle around of the same truths and questions. I call the video front porch TV :-)
Yes, especially in Hinduism and Buddhist cosmology where the universe is thought to be continually flowing through four eras called yuga's. Once the fourth yuga is complete, the cycle begins anew.
In this region of NW Pennsylvania we are experiencing more snow this year than the last few years. Bundling up to shovel out once again (or even to walk a small dog) can feel like an event, even before taking one step outside. To feel secure and upright yak traks are stretched over the bottom of my boots. What might we need to add to keep us upright and moving forward?
We can go for days and days with cloudy skies. The hymn ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is often sung in my mind. And then one day this strange glowing orb breaks through (oh yes, the sun!) The sunlight feels different in the winter. Brighter. Reflecting off the snow. Even in the darkest days of winter the sun is still with us. Even on the bleakest day.
Maybe we are called to bundle up and carry light within. To find ways to reflect and see the light in each other in these wintering times.
I love this …this part of the country is often grey as well in the winter, so when the light comes through and it is good to be reminded the sun did not leave, it was always there. Thank you for “Maybe we are called to bundle up and carry light within.” So true so wise my friend.
Since November my prayer has been ’What am I called to be? What am I called to do?’ There has been just emptiness, sadness, and grief. Still I continued to ask. Recently at 4am (*it’s just a chance to pray a wise woman sang…) came the answer. Light. Some of the emptiness, sadness, and grief lifted. When it returns, as it does, I reach into my heart space and remember the answer given. Light.
Wintering is a time of purposefully lying "fallow" so to speak; without guilt, to receive the messages that God has specifically spoken for you to hear. To be purposefully restful and listening for the calm that stills the soul and the work of what is underground so we trust that in the spring, we also will be filled with important knowledge and joy.
Yes, in our busy busy culture we don’t remember that by nature there needs to be a balance of rest and movement, fallow times and growing times, and there are great gifts in listening to what speaks in the quiet.
Carrie - thank you for taking us along on your walk in the winter woods. Narrative poetry! Your gesture of touching the ground where the deer had lain truly seemed participating in a sacrament. "Receiving a blessing" from their hearts
Thank you J AZ, I like taking a moment to bless and be blessed by things I encounter in the world. It always seems to shift my perspective…that there are altars everywhere.
Amid this winter of gathering storm clouds, I’ve left Facebook and Instagram for good. (I bolted from Twitter months ago, when ultra-rightwing Elon Musk bought the site.) I will have nothing to do with social media sites on which hate and disinformation are allowed to flourish and whose owners are groveling at the feet of the president-elect. Bidding farewell to these sites was a tough call, especially because I’ll miss keeping up with you there, Carrie. And I’m not sure what life will be like without access to the wise and wonderful posts of Parker Palmer. At least I still have your nurturing presence on Substack to brighten my days through all seasons.
At this point I mostly repost excerpts from my Substack offerings on Facebook and invite folks to check out an alternative way to stay in contact and exchange stories and information on line. I don’t spend any time on the platforms except to read Parker Palmers FB page. Parker is probably one of the main reasons i still have an account. I know there are a lot of people who are increasingly uncomfortable with FB and Instagram now, but feel locked into its platform because that is where their audience or online community interacts. I am actually grateful that 3 years ago I was hacked and FB banned me from their platform for 9 months and that the banning appeared to be a permanent. It made me look for alternatives that were not toxic and finding Substack has been incredibly positive for me and for other writers and community members. It’s very disturbing how X, FB and Insta are so powerful and moving even further into more toxic content and shaping conversation with misinformation. I know lots of people who are looking and happily discovering they have other options for online information and community, thanks for being here Jeff.
I feel so comforted by the responses here. I have found myself reluctant to see the lengthening days, relieved that the deep snow has allowed me to remain cocooned, gestating. I was introduced to a poem by Joyce Rupp, "Winter's Cloak" that has been a source of comfort. I am resisting accepting the oncoming political winter in this country. Thank you Carrie and all the eloquent writers on this platform. I breathe deeply your courage and wisdom. Nobody has to endure alone.
The coming winter of the next four years has been on my mind a lot. Then…I remember that winter is when seeds lie quietly underground. Preparing, deeply preparing, to gently come through the soil when the time is right. I remind myself that it is ok to go deep and be quiet. That is not surrendering, that is preparing. In 2016 many of us took to the streets. This time, it feels different. Many of us are taking to the deep spaces. Not hiding, but preparing. Finding our own mother trees, tending the seeds, joining in community and preparing.
Humans are just beginning to learn and understand what our greater Nature Mother has been teaching for some time. There is strength in the inter being. There is strength in collaboration. There is strength in the mystic dark nights. Seven planets are lining the sky later this month. Deep space alignment. There is deep strength in fungi messages in the forest. Reaching out, sending strength and healing where needed.
Teaching is happening all around us. Listen deeply.
I’m accepting that the quiet of winter is to let the seeds quietly germinate. To accept that there will be a time and place where what I can give will be needed and to be ready.
This is just a beautiful comment Sandi, “ In 2016 many of us took to the streets. This time, it feels different. Many of us are taking to the deep spaces. Not hiding, but preparing. Finding our own mother trees, tending the seeds, joining in community and preparing.” so true…at first I was wondering why the same response as in 2016 was not happening this year…but I believe you are right, we are going deep, deciding what matters, and listening for the teaching so powerful in this moment.
I pondered for a while of leaving the north for warmer climates but then I realized that part of my inner balanced is tied to the dark months of the north to reflect and gather strength for the growing and harvesting seasons of life
I turn to poetry. I can read one that warms me, one that gives me hope, one that makes me laugh or cry. Songs sometimes too, as lyrics can be the best poetry.
The heavy snow and cold often keeps us at home. This offers a time to reflect on all things that we love and fear. Too often, we are so busy rushing here and there, we let the things that truly matter pass us by. It also allows us time to reset our priorities around these things and to treasure what we hold dear and work on our fears.
And remember, the Light and the Loving is always with us! Even when it seems dark in the winter, they remain with us all four seasons. Yes, this will be hard, but we must retain the hope for a massive leaning in toward the Light. We can manifest this and we must not give up or surrender. Namaste!
Carrie, I love your combination of different media. It is so warm and personal and inviting. Plus your poetic description of your winter walk, what a delight. Thank you.
I am more of a Spring girl but I have found as I age Winter gives me the time to rest, regroup and be content in my surroundings.Then I can be ready to step in to Spring ready to go. Carrie, I just can't thank you enough for the last 3 paragraphs in this writing. I had been feeling like in the play Richard III "the winter of our discontent." But it will be our poets, our artists, our good, loving, kind people that will get us through this discontent. I will be reading this again on January 20th and I will share it with my friends and family to lift their spirits too. I am sending BIG hugs to you.
In southwestern Indiana, we have just come through a challenging week of snow, ice and then more snow. It has been stunningly beautiful but also highly impactful to trees and humans. For a week the trees were encased in an inch of ice resulting in many down limbs and trees on power lines causing widespread power and internet outages. Now that the trees have been released from their prisons and we, once again, have power, I find myself longing for those 3 days of snuggling, puzzles by daylight, dinner by candlelight, reading by headlamp and early to bed. It was quiet, and dark and we all were released from many of our obligations, allowed to slow down and live simply for a bit. I have always seen winter as the quiet season, giving myself permission to rest, to think. In recent years I have certainly not lived my winters in that way. This past week was a little reminder. As for the next 4 years, I don't think I can look at them as a long hard winter. Winter does not deserve to be associated with what is likely coming our way.
so true, but maybe its both
Thank you so much for this stirring beautiful piece of writing and for reminding us “that we can do this hard thing.” When you mentioned the grey of winter- a medley entered my mind of “A Touch of Grey”. “We will get by.”
One of the many delightful insights shared by Katherine May in her personal narrative, “Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat”: “Here is another truth about wintering: you’ll find wisdom in your winter, and once it’s over, it’s your responsibility to pass it on. And in return it’s our responsibility to listen to those who have wintered before us.” She calls it “an exchange of gifts in which nobody loses out.” (Riverhead Books; New York. 2020.)
In Iowa, the winds are cold and snow covers everything. I like this time of year because it gives me time and focus to do lots of reading. I think the stories of others warm our hearts and fill the aloneness that can sometimes estrange us from others. The darkness points us toward the light and hope of those that surround us. Stories bond humanity and helps us see each other brothers and sisters--creations of the same great Artist in an adventure love story.
Thank you Karleen, yes it is stories that connect us….and sometimes divide us…depending upon who is telling the story and the goodness (or divisiveness) of their intent. How important it is to hear and tell those stories that remind us of our shared humanity and yes “creations of the same great Artist in an adventure love story.”
I think your concept of "wintering" is very true both literally and metaphorically. Life as well as nature, seems to me to be cyclical. Thanks for the optimism and the cool video!
It all comes around it seems…I imagine you know of many philosophers who mused on the cyclical nature of things, how things change and yet we circle around of the same truths and questions. I call the video front porch TV :-)
Yes, especially in Hinduism and Buddhist cosmology where the universe is thought to be continually flowing through four eras called yuga's. Once the fourth yuga is complete, the cycle begins anew.
In this region of NW Pennsylvania we are experiencing more snow this year than the last few years. Bundling up to shovel out once again (or even to walk a small dog) can feel like an event, even before taking one step outside. To feel secure and upright yak traks are stretched over the bottom of my boots. What might we need to add to keep us upright and moving forward?
We can go for days and days with cloudy skies. The hymn ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is often sung in my mind. And then one day this strange glowing orb breaks through (oh yes, the sun!) The sunlight feels different in the winter. Brighter. Reflecting off the snow. Even in the darkest days of winter the sun is still with us. Even on the bleakest day.
Maybe we are called to bundle up and carry light within. To find ways to reflect and see the light in each other in these wintering times.
I love this …this part of the country is often grey as well in the winter, so when the light comes through and it is good to be reminded the sun did not leave, it was always there. Thank you for “Maybe we are called to bundle up and carry light within.” So true so wise my friend.
Since November my prayer has been ’What am I called to be? What am I called to do?’ There has been just emptiness, sadness, and grief. Still I continued to ask. Recently at 4am (*it’s just a chance to pray a wise woman sang…) came the answer. Light. Some of the emptiness, sadness, and grief lifted. When it returns, as it does, I reach into my heart space and remember the answer given. Light.
Wintering is a time of purposefully lying "fallow" so to speak; without guilt, to receive the messages that God has specifically spoken for you to hear. To be purposefully restful and listening for the calm that stills the soul and the work of what is underground so we trust that in the spring, we also will be filled with important knowledge and joy.
Yes, in our busy busy culture we don’t remember that by nature there needs to be a balance of rest and movement, fallow times and growing times, and there are great gifts in listening to what speaks in the quiet.
Carrie - thank you for taking us along on your walk in the winter woods. Narrative poetry! Your gesture of touching the ground where the deer had lain truly seemed participating in a sacrament. "Receiving a blessing" from their hearts
Thank you J AZ, I like taking a moment to bless and be blessed by things I encounter in the world. It always seems to shift my perspective…that there are altars everywhere.
Amid this winter of gathering storm clouds, I’ve left Facebook and Instagram for good. (I bolted from Twitter months ago, when ultra-rightwing Elon Musk bought the site.) I will have nothing to do with social media sites on which hate and disinformation are allowed to flourish and whose owners are groveling at the feet of the president-elect. Bidding farewell to these sites was a tough call, especially because I’ll miss keeping up with you there, Carrie. And I’m not sure what life will be like without access to the wise and wonderful posts of Parker Palmer. At least I still have your nurturing presence on Substack to brighten my days through all seasons.
At this point I mostly repost excerpts from my Substack offerings on Facebook and invite folks to check out an alternative way to stay in contact and exchange stories and information on line. I don’t spend any time on the platforms except to read Parker Palmers FB page. Parker is probably one of the main reasons i still have an account. I know there are a lot of people who are increasingly uncomfortable with FB and Instagram now, but feel locked into its platform because that is where their audience or online community interacts. I am actually grateful that 3 years ago I was hacked and FB banned me from their platform for 9 months and that the banning appeared to be a permanent. It made me look for alternatives that were not toxic and finding Substack has been incredibly positive for me and for other writers and community members. It’s very disturbing how X, FB and Insta are so powerful and moving even further into more toxic content and shaping conversation with misinformation. I know lots of people who are looking and happily discovering they have other options for online information and community, thanks for being here Jeff.
I feel so comforted by the responses here. I have found myself reluctant to see the lengthening days, relieved that the deep snow has allowed me to remain cocooned, gestating. I was introduced to a poem by Joyce Rupp, "Winter's Cloak" that has been a source of comfort. I am resisting accepting the oncoming political winter in this country. Thank you Carrie and all the eloquent writers on this platform. I breathe deeply your courage and wisdom. Nobody has to endure alone.
I too left Facebook and Instagram and other than as habit to pick up my phone, haven't gone back AND haven't missed it. My heart is happier!
The coming winter of the next four years has been on my mind a lot. Then…I remember that winter is when seeds lie quietly underground. Preparing, deeply preparing, to gently come through the soil when the time is right. I remind myself that it is ok to go deep and be quiet. That is not surrendering, that is preparing. In 2016 many of us took to the streets. This time, it feels different. Many of us are taking to the deep spaces. Not hiding, but preparing. Finding our own mother trees, tending the seeds, joining in community and preparing.
Humans are just beginning to learn and understand what our greater Nature Mother has been teaching for some time. There is strength in the inter being. There is strength in collaboration. There is strength in the mystic dark nights. Seven planets are lining the sky later this month. Deep space alignment. There is deep strength in fungi messages in the forest. Reaching out, sending strength and healing where needed.
Teaching is happening all around us. Listen deeply.
I’m accepting that the quiet of winter is to let the seeds quietly germinate. To accept that there will be a time and place where what I can give will be needed and to be ready.
This is just a beautiful comment Sandi, “ In 2016 many of us took to the streets. This time, it feels different. Many of us are taking to the deep spaces. Not hiding, but preparing. Finding our own mother trees, tending the seeds, joining in community and preparing.” so true…at first I was wondering why the same response as in 2016 was not happening this year…but I believe you are right, we are going deep, deciding what matters, and listening for the teaching so powerful in this moment.