Today marks the winter solstice. I’ve been struck by how much I have been resisting the grey, cloudy days, the mid-afternoon darkness and the cold evenings and wishing it was sunny and warm or that I was somewhere tropical and balmy .

When I started exploring this in mindfulness practice and brought more of a beginners mind to winter nights, a new intention arose to welcome the darkness and to bring curiosity and gratitude to the effects of this axial tilt of the earth around the sun.

Now I am noticing more spaciousness and ease after a topsy turvy and very busy few months.

How does the winter solstice and the season relate to our inner world and to working mindfully with our sadness and loss in life as well as our strengths and joys? The poet Wendell Berry suggests

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

The songwriter Cindy Mangsen offers words, imagery and encouragement that reflects our willingness in mindfulness practice to be with the cycles of our lives and of the natural world.

She who can love both sun and moon

Joyful in both seed and bloom

Sound and silence, dark and light

Has nothing to fear from the long winter’s night

Wishing you peace and joy over the holidays and in the coming year.

Andy