Winter: A Time for Reflecting

Being, Not Doing 

The cabin is neat. Only essentials here, none of the clutter of hobbies that I have at the house in town. I am faced with myself. What do I want to do this year, where do I want to be next year, and what do I want to learn? I suppose that not everyone would care about such things on a cold snowy day, but I remember what a Grandpa told me:  Winter is a time for reflecting on your purpose and your relationship with your Creator. He was speaking from the perspective that there are seasons that we all go through: Spring, summer, fall, and winter. Each season is about 4 years long. You start something in spring and you struggle through making it work or watching it die. In the summer season you can enhance what you have with  opportunities, and in the autumn, you use the influence that you have gained to advance your project even further. Then comes the winter time, when it is time to let go of what you have been doing and take an aspect of it to use to launch a new seed, to move it in a new direction. This process of 4 year seasons shifts in a bigger way every 16 years. Life moves you from child to adult with mature adult to senior and into the age of wisdom (hopefully).  Projects also move that way: from new ideas to growing confidence, opportunities and influence, and to assessing who you are, what you stand for and where you want to go next, and what you will let go of.

Going with the Challenges

Stages of development refer to the refining of emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual understanding. It is the “through the glass darkly” issue. At 16, our goals and our efforts to be a grown-up can create a variety of challenges, some healthy and some not so healthy. Not knowing what is to come and the struggle to find one’s self is a big challenge! It is interesting that when you do find something you want to do — no matter at what age—- the same issue of struggling and trying to figure out how to bring forth your idea to the world forces you to take stock. You decide to build a business, offer your services to a broader audience, introduce your ideas to a larger world. The first 4 years are a struggle. Why does that have to be? Well, the little chick has to struggle to get out of the shell, the butterfly has to fight its way out of the cocoon. If that struggle doesn’t happen, the chick and the butterfly do not have the proper strength and skill to make their way. The same need for struggle in the development of your new path is there. Having done this several times, the struggle becomes easier— mainly because you recognize the pattern and take the time to focus your energy!   

Accepting Winter

But let’s fast forward to the winter season. What have you learned from the struggles, the opportunities, the influence, that you can use to prepare for the next round of seasons? Here are some ideas for how to move along this path. Accept that it is winter and you can’t go outside and distract yourself with hiking and wood stacking. 

You need to take into account what is important for you now: your values, your purpose, your relationship with your family members, and your relationship with your Creator. Maybe you can make mind maps of what is important, or paint a picture that represents where you want to be. Maybe you ask what you have not been doing that you should have been doing all along?  And, maybe you look at what talents you have been hiding under a bushel! 

Taking a Stand 

At what point do you stop being someone’s child, someone’s employee, or someone’s parent and say: “Here is Me!” What do I want to leave for my grandchildren, for my students, for my friends?  How do I use my influence? How do I capitalize on the opportunities that I have had? What is the thread that has connected the events and experiences of my life through all of these years? What will the blizzard of life blow away or freeze in place? The answers are not apparent, the need to stop doing and focus on being is important

It is actually easy to make that happen during the blizzard that is raging outside! There isn’t much to do in the cabin but talk to my Creator and ask what direction and plans are blowing my way. It is kind of exciting, like going on an adventure into the unknown, being ready to reach deep within myself to see where I am headed. I actually think this time of reflection and letting go has a cleansing quality. It will be like the land outside the cabin after the clouds, wind and snow stops and the sunshine comes out to show just how pretty the mountains are and how beautiful the sky is in contrast to the piles of sparkly snow on the hills and trees around me. And so, I welcome winter with its cold and wind, knowing that I will take with me a bit of what I am now and move into a new time of challenge and adventure!