During Winter, it's not uncommon to be drawn into the shadow aspects of our being.
Winter is the season of death, after all, and reflected all around us in nature is the invitation to let go, die and be reborn.
In the vacant branches of trees and barren landscapes, nature invites us to look more closely at the parts of us that await transformation through release.
The cycles of death in nature are all around, yet when they happen inside of us they can be extremely destabilizing.
As we release what is no longer alive within - the ways of being, identities and patterns that we no longer align with- we have access to a richness of healing that also serves as an offering at the altar of who we are becoming.
Just like nature, we are invited to let go of past iterations of ourselves in order to make space for new growth to bloom in our lives.
This process is painful and not for the faint of heart. A literal death to old coping and survival mechanisms, there may be times we actually feel as though we are dying. In a sense we are.
In nature, death precedes life.
In our spiritual lives, death often means moments of great surrender and potent release that must happen in order for us to operate in the world as our Truer Selves.
We are unable to grow into our fullest expression unless we let some things die first.
When the whole world feels like it’s crumbling inside of you, what do you do?
You might pray for peace and guidance.
Ask for support from someone you love.
Reach out.
Find out who you are, despite it all, in this moment, right here and now.
You might put down your phone,
And keep small promises to yourself
and reevaluate the rules, agreements and expectations that have led you to this place.
When the edges of your well-worn life begin to fray, you might find pockets of rest. You might set down the burden of your responsibilities even if only for a moment.
You might remember who you are through this breaking open, not despite it.
A human,
A heart, feeling and tender, walking through the world.
A deeply sensitive, caring, and hopeful being longing for love just like everyone else.
It does not separate you from others, this big, beautiful, broken-open throb of emotions, it connects you. Your heart connects you through the vast oceans of the cosmos, to every other aching, lonely and breaking heart in the entire universe.
And if your heart breaks in this connection, know that this thread of familiarity, of recognition, also connects you to every joyful, swelling in bliss, ecstatically open-hearted being in the Universe too.
All together, we bridge worlds leading back to one another, but most importantly back to ourselves. To our own conscious, wise, loving, beating heart. The heart and sacred center of all that is.
From the places that ache and break so deeply within, new life will blossom.
Your role is simply to let go, to let the process take as long as it takes.
And remember, just like nature, after Winter always comes Spring.