When winter comes, I wish I could hibernate. Animals do a great job of cooperating with the season and my garden peacefully slumbers, but my winter months are often busier than any other time of year. More than ever, this year it simply doesn’t feel sane!

Our bodies are inextricably part of Nature’s cycles, despite our defiant attempts to ignore this with electricity and caffeine. We need winter’s darkness for rest and renewal. Everything in Nature both expands and contracts, but in our hectic culture, it’s seems like we are collectively stuck on GO! If you’re not busy, you’re either sick or lazy – right? So I ask myself, what’s underneath all this frantic activity?

Busyness can be creatively wholesome or habitually compulsive. It’s vital to know when you’re being driven by an inner dominatrix or fired by your soul’s passion. After getting this mixed up for most of my life, I try to stay alert to whether my activities are truly creative and balanced or whether they are covering a pit of hidden feelings.

When I do slow down and tune-in, I may find a pile of petty anxieties that have built up, like dust-bunnies, in my psychic basement. But I don’t always find negative feelings. Often I am surprised to unearth new ideas or astonishing joy and beauty that has quietly waited, like a secret garden, to be activated. Slowing down and dropping into my heart takes discipline. A self-confessed workaholic, it’s a lot easier to compile massive lists and race through them, driving my body past its limits and ticking off the tasks for some elusive satisfaction at the end of the day. Even though I know this is a very shallow, hit-and-run approach that always delays real peace or joy, it’s still very seductive to be productive!

Now I am looking at winter with new respect. Every fall, when my body tenses with the cold weather, I’ve mustered my resolve to keep busy and cheerful. This year, I’m going to try something different. I’ll meet Nature face-on through my body, like a bear. I wonder whether bears hibernate in their death-like state so that they can radically change? Whether this is true or not, I’m going into my cave. There are some old habits that are screaming to be released — compulsive busyness being one. And even as the slowing begins, I can already see , through my heart’s eye, some early signs of spring .

So if you peek into my cave this winter, this is what I might be doing…

Meditating in a beautiful, serene atmosphere.
Taking seven deep breaths and dropping into my heart.
Creating an altar space of simple beauty: One rose in a vase.
An indoor stone garden. A candle burning in the garden at night.
Listening to my body. Cooking light, simple foods. Eating slowly.
Taking time to be aware of my feelings. Walking slowly and appreciating ordinary things.
Creating and enjoying small islands of silence. Being kind to myself and to others.
Letting my heart speak through poetry, letters, and the language of dreams.

Come and visit me. I’ll be listening to Gaia’s heartbeat, and I’d love to share what I hear…