Welcome to December, 2022!
In a few days it will be the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere.The darkness falls earlier and stays longer. It's gotten chilly. It's dry in our heated houses. Stop. Feel. Have these statements conjured feelings in you? What are the words or images or feelings about weather and this season? Are they positive? Negative? Neutral?
What if the statements were just that? Facts. Unveiled reality about the place where we live. We are conditioned to have an opinion- do you like winter, summer, dark, light? Is it good or bad? What if it just... is? It sounds silly to ask, what if we accepted the climate?
While I don't think we can sit by and do nothing when action is needed, we do needlessly suffer (unhappiness, negativity, wishing it were otherwise) when we resist circumstances over which we have no control. We can chase manipulating every detail of our lives, to try to keep us in a "happy" state, or we can become more comfortable with what is, moment to moment. Simple to say, not so simple to do.
How do we begin to unravel our dichotomous thinking? We can note our immediate labels of good and bad to every food, event, and situation. We can slowly let go of this way of thinking. We can prepare ourselves, moment by moment by paying attention to our feelings, thoughts and actions. We could try to eliminate the words good and bad from our vocabulary in cases where it's not good and evil. We also might entertain all the adjectives we neglect using in this two word paradigm.
Our movement practices, meditations, the choices in what we read and watch, and the influence of people around us are what help us deter constant judgment of good and bad that lead to suffering. May this season be filled with less immediate gratification, less quick, positive or negative thinking and filled with more discernment, compassion, and kindness. ~Ingrid