Morning Thoughts

Rising early this morning I open the blinds and it is dark outside, there is frost on the window pane and the front porch light makes the snow on the ground sparkle. The weather app on my phone says it's 3 degrees and snowing. I hear the mournful sound of a distant train. I climb the stairs and wander into the kitchen and fill the coffee maker with water and 6 scoops of dark crystals. I breathe deeply the aroma. 

I'm thinking about life here in the woods. Being in this foreign land of Wisconsin. I believe somehow that it is perfect that we left the desert and are thrust into this deep freeze of winter. We didn't ease into it, instead winter arrived early and with a vengeance. The natural thing to do is to hibernate. It's part of the cycle of nature.

How perfect that I would read an article from onbeing.org  this morning about hibernation! Isn't it always a gift when there, in the printed word are thoughts from your own head articulated so eloquently by a writer? Here are some excerpts from the article,

"The Gifts of Hibernation" by Andreana E. Lefton, Guest Contributor:

"...the world has granted me a natural pause and is itself preparing for winter, I feel that I too want to still myself, restore myself. Be.

"...the silence of my heart is transforming into a call to prayer."

"We each live and work according to a philosophy we both inherit and invent. The inherited part is easier to articulate. We can dive into Einstein or the Bible or the Bhagavad Gita, and find the lineage of our world-view, already manifest.

Our invented philosophy - the self-made scaffold our lives and visions cling to - is harder to speak out loud. It's hard to even write it down. And yet, we must try! For we hang our very beings on these invisible bones.

I am learning to see hibernation as a time to retreat from the world, yes. It is also a time for my own unspoken philosophy to come into clearer focus. In this way, hibernation is a time of approach. I am approaching the truth in me, a movement that requires both patience and trust..."

"...coming closer to the rhythms and mysteries of life beneath our thin shield of technology and distractions - is one of the many gifts of hibernation..."

"...Hibernation, which is another word for healing, restores our nourishing, grounding source. In so doing, it frees us to become a force of reason, reflection, and kindness..."

"...So light a fire, and pull on a sweater. Let the snow curl by the door. Listen to the hush of trees or traffic. Welcome the darkness. Sleep well."