Winter Solstice and Yule Blessings

December 21, 2017 4 Comments

Winter Solstice and Yule Blessings! I think for the first time in my life, I’ve realized that rest is completely foreign to me. Sure, I take days off here and there, but those days are normally filled with new ideas about how to give more of myself when I’m done resting.

Luckily, over the past few years, I’ve gotten better at seeing the warning signs that I’m about to burn out. They usually come in the form of physical injury or sickness. And I’m not talking about the usual aches and pains associated with scoliosis. They come as some kind of a fluke accident that throws me into an involuntary rest, (like my broken foot two years ago). So, this time, when I had a neck injury from my crappy mattress immediately followed by the flu, I decided to listen a bit more deeply. Underneath the chaos of my busy life there was a deep stillness that was calling me inwards. A stillness without agenda. With nothing to do, but rest.

 

My brain immediately started protesting with, “We’ve got too much to do to rest! We’ve got to figure out all of the new programs for next year! Workshops to set up! Classes to teach! Etc…” Not to mention all of the holiday happenings that were swirling around. But I knew what I needed to do. Deep down. I needed to get off the merry-go-round. Call it a premonition if you will, but there is a transformation coming that requires a different approach. Not “What can I do”, but “How can I let go?”

So, I’ve gone dark on social media for the month, maybe longer. I’ve cut off my brain’s need to share everything that I’m practicing so I can get back to nurturing myself. For so many years, I’ve preached this “fill your cup so you can give to others” mantra, but what happens when we go a level deeper and nurture ourselves because it’s our divine right? To honor our bodies and let ourselves rest when we need to, not because we “should”, but because LIFE IS A CYCLE. We ebb and we flow. Expand and contract. We’ve entered the time of the year between the exhale of Fall and the inhale of Spring. A Holy pause. Can you embrace the darkest point of the year as a sacred womb space that holds us all, safe and warm, until it’s time to emerge refreshed and renewed?

 

 

Embrace the sleepy, snuggly, dreamtime of Winter.  Let go of the things that do not nourish you. Take a bath. Drink tea, slowly with pleasure. Say no to that 15th holiday party without guilt. Practice. Meditate. Light a candle or incense and let yourself dream. Write. Paint. Drum. Dance. SLEEP. If you need me I’ll be in the chrysalis.

Share this blog with someone you know who can use permission to REST! And let me know your favorite ways to do less this time of year below in the comments:

 

 

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