Winter as a Time of Reflection

Photo credit: Simon Berger on Pexels

December has arrived and here in Canada, it's winter. There is snow on the ground and everything is bedded in for a long winter's nap. This is a season of Hygge, which is a Danish word roughly translating to "comfort". It's the practice of finding ways to seek comfort and joy when a growing cycle has ended. Nature takes time to rest and recover after months of growing and changing. The landscape is born and matures, producing food and materials for us to create with, whether that is a meal from the garden or a home from the wood of mature trees. It's a cycle that plays on and it's easy to take it for granted. Nature counts on the winter for rest and recovery from all the energy expended for growth. It's the same in our lives. We need time to rest and recover to stay healthy and allow ourselves another season of growth and creativity. In Pagan religions, the celebration of the solstices was meant to honour the cycles of nature. These ceremonies have long been forgotten and consumerism has changed the world so most people don't even recognize or honour nature's cycles.

We too have a rhythm. in our life. Cycles that allow us to plant seeds and nurture them as we go out into the world to discover and explore ideas or dreams we have for what we want to experience. We have lost the ability to move and flow with that cyclical energy, so much so that we push ourselves to constantly be doing more and more. Then when we get sick, we ignore the messages from our body telling us the cycle is ending and we must slow down to rest and recover. There is such a push to be productive in every moment and it seems our efforts are never enough. We've lost sight of the joy of creating something that makes us happy and benefits society. Work is no longer about impact but rather work becomes about income. How much money can we make for our efforts? We want as much money as we can get so we can get out of the vicious cycle and "retire". We get caught on the hamster wheel and don't know how to get off. So we just keep going. 

I think what we are really looking for is rest. We compare ourselves to everyone else and lose sight of the fact we are all on our own path. What someone else is doing is irrelevant for what we want to experience ourselves. Constantly competing with others pushes us to ignore our own drum beat. And the more we ignore that beat, that rhythm, the more we get out of step with the natural flow of our energetic body. The trick is waking up to realize that we can honor our own personal rhythm and act in our own best interest, without sacrificing success or growth. Nature is here as a reminder that there is a time for Hygge and it doesn't always have to happen just in winter. For me, I find that my own rhythm follows closer to nature and I like to slow down and do less in the winter. For others, it may be that winter means skiing and sledding and activities that get them outside where they are energized, so winter is when they are most creative.

However you like to view it, cycles have beginnings and endings, just like life. Not many like the idea of endings, but they are necessary and provide an opportunity for a new path forward. Whether you slow down or ramp up, winter gives us the time to review the last year and consider our rhythm. We can consider if we need time to recover and embrace an ending. In Numerology, 2025 represents a year of endings. When you add the numbers together and reduce to a single digit, you get 9. In Numerology, the numbers 1 through 9 represent a cycle, and each number has a meaning within that cycle. The cycle itself is not a flat line, but rather a wave with peaks and valleys. As we move through this cycle, there will be ups and downs and eventually we reach the end, which is the number 9. So this year has me thinking about the end of the last cycle that started in 2016. It gives me pause to think about what I might want to create next year, as the cycle starts over again at 1 (2026 adds up to 10 which reduces to 1). So 2026 means we are entering a year of new beginnings. Since we create our own experience, I get to choose what I want to create for the next 9 year cycle. I think that's a pretty powerful opportunity to consider something new for myself and my experience. For me, it will be more self discovery sprinkled with joy and child-like adventure. Now that I've found a way to heal the past and express myself more, I look forward to dreaming of what that can look like. 

What about you, what does winter evoke? What might you consider creating next year for yourself?