The Eternal Change of Seasons
The winter solstice is almost upon us, arriving on December 21. This is officially the shortest day and longest night of the year. It traditionally marks the beginning of the three month period known as the winter season. Not until late March will the tulips and daffodils start making their appearance, thus signalling the end of “Old Man Winter”. The period of daylight immediately after the winter solstice is a little bit longer every successive day until June. The winter solstice is actually marked by different festivals and celebrations in many cultures around the world. It has been called “The Death of the Sun (shortest day) – The Rebirth of the Sun” (all days onward until June will be longer each day). Yin and Yang.
A lot of people, probably a majority of people, dislike winter, for the cold and ice and a variety of other reasons. I just read where Phoenix, Arizona topped the country in population growth for the fifth year in a row. They’re all flocking to the desert heat. No matter how cold or snowy it might get in winter however, or how much I enjoy the luscious warmth of shelter when I get in out of the cold, I know that even though I am cussing him out when I am shoveling away nine inches of snow from the sidewalk, I would truly miss Old Man Winter if somehow Mother Nature decided to send him away. Even though autumn has always been my favorite, I have always enjoyed the variety of the change of the seasons. I have relished living in a part of the country where all four seasons have equal turns, a full three months, at “displaying their wares”. Then, so as to allow you to experience the variety of Mother Nature, weather-wise, the next season makes its appearance right on time and takes its turn in the spotlight.
Taking The Good Along With The Bad
The Chinese philosophical concept of yin and yang describes how opposite forces of nature may actually be both interconnected and interdependent. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus wrote, “By cosmic rule, as day yields night, so summer winter, war peace, plenty famine. All things change. Fire penetrates the lump of myrrh until the joining bodies die and rise again in smoke called incense.” Another reference to the yin and yang comes from from The Emerald Tablet, ” That which is above is from that which is below and that which is below is from that which is above.”
While people generally disparage winter as something that you have to just “get through” until spring arrives (unless you choose to fly down to your beach house in Florida LOL), the facets of winter actually have a positive aspect which is interconnected and interdependent with a negative aspect. Let’s take probably the number one thing that people dislike about winter…..the cold and snow. The biting wind on your cheeks. The ice on the roads and sidewalks. The inability to engage in outdoor activities. The shoveling of snow from sidewalks and driveways. Without the cold and snow of winter however there would be no pure crystalline beauty of evergreens laden with snow. There would be no sleighs coming down the sides of hills or snowmen or snowball fights. There would be the absence of the exquisite beauty of a single unique snowflake. Without the cold and winter winds that drive people inside, there would be no solitudinous peacefulness outside during a frigid night. You would be robbed of the enhanced enjoyment of a steaming mug of coffee or hot chocolate inside a cozy, warm room as you savor a good book. Sitting with your spouse by the fireplace with a crackling fire is a unique treat in the winter that during the summer would just be an exercise in excess perspiration and discomfort. Without the cold of winter those amazingly irritating houseflies and annoying blood-sucking mosquitoes would be hanging around all year long. A blast of heat which might be cursed in summer is blessed in winter. There is always the yin and yang of winter.
A Golden Opportunity
Things slow down in winter. You can spend your time on things that may get squeezed out during spring, summer and autumn, You can be active in a different kind of way, preparing your stage so to speak for your grand performance during the warmer weather months that are up ahead. While you are inside during the winter, you can use that opportunity to get rid of junk that you do not need – junk in the attic, junk in the basement, and even more importantly, junk in your mind, in your thoughts and in your beliefs – junk that is weighing you down in life big time and keeping you from fulfilling your true potential, the true you, the real you.
While you are taking a three month break from the frenetic comings and goings of the outside activities of the other three seasons, you can use winter time to go inside…..inside of you, inside deep to the core of your being in order to make inner adjustments and improvements. Winter, day by day, will relentlessly yield longer and longer periods of daylight during every twenty four hour cycle until the culmination of the longest day of sunlight at the time of the summer solstice in June. You can grow your inner self relentlessly day by day throughout the winter through your disciplined free will choice of daily thoughts, daily feelings, daily words, daily actions and daily beliefs. Those five things really, really, really make all the difference in you successfully manifesting the beautiful life that you came here to live. As Hamlet says in Act II of Shakespeare’s famous play, “for there is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” And that is where it all starts. Your choice of thoughts generate your words, generate your feelings, generate your actions and ultimately generate your beliefs. And thus, the tenor and substance of your entire existence is formed by your free will choice of thoughts, feelings, words, actions and beliefs. In the book of Deuteronomy scripture states, ” …,,I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life…: ” It is your choice. That is how our Creator made us. Choose wisely my friend. Choose life.
