The Rest of Winter
"Welcome, winter. Your late dawns and chilled breath make me lazy, but I love you nonetheless."
~Terri Guillemets
Now that the hubbub of the Holiday season is past, we can get busy with the work of Winter. I write this somewhat in jest as Winter is the time of rest and reflection. The time for family and home. The time of quiet. While the days are getting longer and the Light getting stronger, we continue to be in this season of going within and resting. With this time period, comes cold and flu season.
We often view illness and dis-ease as a bad thing, something to avoid. Which is understandable when we feel miserable. I wonder if we could consider that illness has a role? Sometimes, it is only meant to get us to rest. We have been doing too much and our bodies need a break or we need more sleep. Other times, we get sick because we do not want to do something or we are nervous. And often, illness or dis-ease is an opportunity for deep healing on many levels, an opportunity to re-evaluate our life, a way for our bodies to get our attention, or even a method of awakening consciousness.
Wanting to avoid illness or pain, there is a tendency to suppress our symptoms. Have a headache, take an aspirin, and go back to work or class. It is important that we recognize the value of these symptoms. Sometimes we may want to limit their affects, but only if we are also engaging in uncovering the root issue. Otherwise, we are only creating a worse situation which will pop up down the line.
When my children were young, I studied with an Anthroposophic nurse. We learned that our children would often have a fever right before a major growth spurt, both physical and intellectual. I discovered this was true. Rather than get concerned that my children had a fever, I got excited for them (and also helped to ease their discomfort). I’m not suggesting that we try to get sick; however maybe we could re-frame the way in which we view illness.
I am returning after three days of being sick with a stomach issue. I thought that this was due to something that I ate, though I am not able to pin point what it was and my reaction does not usually last more than a day. I felt frustrated. I lamented: I want to eat what I want; my diet is really clean, why do I still get sick. And yet, my symptoms continued. Yesterday, it started to dawn on me that maybe there’s a reason for this. Strangely, it was a beautiful day in January, sunny and warm. So I went outside and sat with the Faeries. I asked them for help and for information. I could feel them working on me, while the Sun warmed my face. As I sat there, I was told that I’ve been fighting this and maybe I should succumb to it and experience what I need to experience. So I did.
I had been trying to work through this illness, doing what I could, knowing that I did not have energy for anything physical nor the mental capacity for my clients or anything important. Now, I allowed myself to sit and rest with Nature. Then, I went inside and rested. As I did, different fears and thoughts surfaced. To be fair, these started bubbling up that morning and I tried to ignore them. This time I simply experienced them, knowing that I could get curious about these later. As I did this, I was able to eat and enjoy my first real meal in three days! (If you do not know me well, my life centers on food. To not eat or be able to enjoy food for three days is a big deal for me.) Later that evening, I shared with my partner what was coming up, which lead to great conversation.
This morning I awoke with clarity, something that I have enjoyed before as I emerged from the cocoon of illness. I proceeded to do a karmic journey around abundance, which I have contemplated doing for years, always putting it off. Shortly after the healing journey, I received an email which shifted an issue that lead to my desire to do this journey. One, I’m amazed (AGAIN) at the incredible healing power of the Plants when we agree to do this work with them. Two, I am grateful for this illness to help me take the step towards healing this long standing issue.
In modern times, we are very happy to have the knowledge of germs. Germ theory has done wonders in saving lives by little things like sterilizing instruments before surgery (or more exact, not using the same instruments from one person to another without properly cleaning them), for which I am grateful. Despite the large infatuation with antibacterial soaps and gels, germ theory only addresses a part of the actual situation. The truth is that our energy body affects whether we get sick or not.
To a point, most of us realize this. As we know that adequate rest (generally 8 - 9 hours), good hydration (1/2 your body weight in ounces), healthy food (whole foods grown without chemicals, prepared in a manner which your body can easily digest and absorb and which includes a large amount of colorful vegetables), and moderate exercise contribute to staying healthy. However, our thoughts, emotions, life experiences, and stress also greatly contribute to our wellbeing. As Michael J. Roads writes, “Of course, if we all became aware of the energetic outcome of our thoughts and attitudes, considerably fewer people would be in hospital!” (from Through the Eyes of Love: Book One)
So again, practicing frequent, good energy hygiene is important to our wellbeing. This helps to release the energies that we have picked up along the way, the energies who were directed towards us, and our own thoughts, wounds, and emotions which have stagnated. This also helps us to keep our Auras nice and strong, which helps to protect against illness. Saint John’s Wort and Yarrow are two of my favorite helpers for strengthening and healing the aura.
It is important to be mindful of our Soul. When we do something that “sucks the life out of us”, that is exactly what is happening, thus weakening us and putting us on the path of dis-ease. This means working in a job that we hate or staying in a toxic relationship or even simply saying yes when we want to say no. To counter these, first we want to learn good boundaries so that we can set limits. We also want to have experiences which feed our Soul. When we do this, we feel uplifted and fulfilled, we give our energetic body and our immune systems a boost. Music, art, laughing, eating delicious food, wonderful sex, time with friends, time with your significant other, and of course, time in Nature are all great ways of feeding your Soul.
I have heard people in New Age circles almost attacking a person who was sick. Saying, “Why did you choose to have this illness?” And “What did you do to attract this?” I do not think that attacking anyone is helpful. I would chose to shift this to consider, what is the opportunity that comes with this illness/dis-ease/pain? I mean this for anything from a cold to cancer to Lyme disease. I think that if we are willing to be curious and listen, we can learn a lot and heal more than we imagined from these experiences, often opening us up to a more meaningful life.
The added bonus is that when we do this, we no longer need to fear illness. Which is particularly helpful since fear compounds illness and dis-ease. I feel that I do need to say that when we look at the opportunity of illness and focus on the deeper healing, this does not mean that death will not occur. Death is a natural part of life, so of course, illness and dis-ease will continue to lead to death. The difference is that we have the opportunity of learning our lessons in this life instead of carrying them into the next. Though we can repeat our lessons as many times as we need until we truly learn them, whether we want to or not.
May you delight in the quiet of Winter, resting and feeding your Soul. And know, that the Plants are always there if you need them, sometimes you just need to ask.