Take the Time

If you can’t find a solution to the problem, the problem is likely a truth you haven’t yet accepted.

Winter is coming and like just about every other transplanted Northerner you know, I’m dreading it. It’s 4° outside, there’s approximately 22 seconds of sunlight daily, I have to wake up early to shovel and my drive time is doubled everywhere I go. As if that wasn’t all hateful enough, the season is merely a lead up to April which brings flooded backyards full of mud and Tax Day.

Ugh. Just double ugh.

Like Dominique shared with the group at last Friday’s Monthly Healing Ceremony, “My favorite winter sport is complaining about winter. Every day.”

So imagine my disappointment when, at that same Healing Ceremony, our guide, Dawn, invited us all to pull a card from the Tarot and Oracle cards laid around the altar and the one I choose was a winter scene that simply read, “Reflection.”

“Oh, hell no!” I exclaimed. “I’m putting this card back.” Never mind that I had actually seen a very similar image during the guided visualization portion of the Ceremony just moments earlier. This card was obviously meant for someone else… I. don’t. like. winter.

Dawn, normally a pretty laid back person, stopped me in my tracks. “No. It’s your lesson. Take the medicine,” she quietly demanded.

Time to pay attention

Dawn doesn’t offer outright challenges often, so I decided to abide. I took the card home and tacked it to the bulletin board in my office. I’ve been asking myself all day what it is about this heinous season that I’m supposed to be appreciating?

Truthfully I know that the lesson - the medicine, if you will - is a Universal demand for me to slow down and turn inward. It also happens to be a strong suggestion of my therapist’s too. It’s a message I’m getting all over the place.

​Perhaps it’s time to pay attention?

Time to slow down

Even though this is the lead up to our busiest time of the year at the SheHive, it’s a slow time everywhere else in my life. I take most of the month of December off from my consulting gigs and my social life grinds to an halt until I can safely leave home without fearing a frostbitten death.

​Winter means lots and lots of time for just me. Time to reflect, to breathe… time to exhale, to sit and contemplate. Maybe even time to evaluate my plans and get back to this intentional way of living I recommend so highly for the rest of y’all. It might also mean a little extra time for my family, those amazing and amazingly-neglected people I believe still live in my house.

And time to appreciate

Slowing down and turning our attention inward can be a scary proposition. If I slow down enough, I’ll actually have to face a few facts I’m not yet ready to face… goals not yet met or plans that didn’t exactly pan out. But always moving at a frenetic pace also means that I never slow down enough to revel in all that did work out… goals that were exceeded, plans that pivoted to something ten times better than originally imagined and loves, ideas and friends that I didn’t even know this time last year.

In it’s infinite wisdom, the Universe may be onto something with this seasonal stuff (even if I still vehemently disagree on the necessity of snow in the overall grand plan). It’s the season to slow down. To relax. To be with family. To reflect. To appreciate.

What does winter mean to you? I’d love to hear what you appreciate about this season! Drop a comment below or shoot me an email at hello@theshehive.com.

​With much love and gratitude,