Happy New Year! Have you got your resolutions all lined up? Have you purged your cupboards of unhealthy food and signed up for that gym membership? Oh yes, this is going to be the year.
But wait! This is not how mother nature intended for your new year to start.
What I am about to say is totally contrary to the common beliefs for starting your new year but is more in line with the rhythms of the earth. This month I am suggesting that instead of hitting the ground running with purpose and drive, be still and just be.
In the northern hemisphere, the earth is in slumber. January is the coldest, deadest month of the whole year. Every other living creature is either in hibernation or just trying to survive. January is the lowest point in the cycle of the seasons and modern humans are the only creatures who ignore this rhythm. January is meant for stillness and for rest.
If you celebrated the December holidays then you have spent the last month shopping, socializing, eating and generally avoiding the darkness of winter with bright lights, joyful music and happy events. If for no other reason your body needs a rest but instead, in todays frenetic society we schedule even more activities into our lives under the guise of New Year’s resolutions. We have been led to believe that in order to make the most of a new year, we need to jump in with both feet.
January is not an energy month. It is the time of year to learn acceptance by going within and be like the dormant seed in the ground, patiently waiting, frozen. It knows that soon it will burst forth with possibility. Until then it conserves it’s precious energy in it’s core.
“There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you ….. In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.”
– Ruth Stout
This month draw your attention inwards. Rest. Take time for quiet activities. If there is energy to burn apply it to maintaining the nucleus of your being by clearing away what no longer nurtures you whether that be bad habits, negative thoughts or poor food choices. Only when you have stripped away the things that damage the very seed of your soul will you be able to germinate strong virile resolutions going forward.
There is no better time than the still darkness of January’s slumber to listen to the whispering voice that lives inside of you. That is were you will find the possibilities for your best 2016, the passionate essence of energy lying deep within your soul waiting to spring forth in the months ahead.
Use the natural lower cycle of the season to sleep more, dream more and read more. Nurture your body and mind. Like the fallow fields of winter, this January, allow yourself to just be.
Friends don’t let friends stay ignorant to the wisdom of nature. Share this post and nurture another’s soul.