Hibernation as reflection

Hibernation is used by many animals to last the winter. They curl up in as safe a place as possible to keep warm surrounded by their possessions and enough food to make it until Spring.

Here at the cottage the snow has been falling lightly sprinkling the garden with what looks like icing sugar and the birds have been strangely quiet. Birdfeeders get filled so we can enjoy the songs and calls of wildlife around us.

The snow makes going out quite difficult but allows us also to go inward and spend some time in quiet contemplation of our inner landscape. It always amazes me that when the weather gets colder we want warming, comforting food,  soups and hot drinks, a warming fire, a good book and great company.

A simple life does afford those comforts but I am also aware of the many people struggling to get to work, congestion on the road, accidents and foremost the stress of  battling the elements in an effort to go to work, to be that teacher or to get to whichever destination we feel compelled to get to.
Many schools close their doors resulting in grandparents being on duty, or else having to take a day off work and the world as we know it slows down. It could be seen as an inconvenience.

Let's turn that around and feel grateful for the opportunity :

to take it slower and breathe deeply while we drink that warm drink
to envelop ourselves and our family with the warmth of a blanket
that we can work from home or not as that case may be
that we do not have to get stuck in traffic
to have a reduced risk of a car accident or a fall
to take stock
to sit and chat a while
to catch ourselves slowing down and breathing deeply
to be grateful we have some time to relax
to bake cookies
to watch that movie
to pick up the book we were meaning to read and escape
to cook a warm spicy dish
to find out what is important to us
to spend time finding out what matters


It might give us an opportunity to tune into our inner intuition and help us realise the level of stress we endure on a daily basis and how we cope with that level of stress.

Snow gives us the opportunity to change our view from external to internal  and revisit the goals we have set this year and how we can best achieve them with the resources we have.