It’s a truly ugly time of the year with dirty slush and snow, sickness is everywhere and we’re cooped up inside nearly all the time. It’s no wonder we get a little glum. Short of a warm, sunny vacation, how can we keep our spirits up?
Get out of the house. That’s right — dress warmly, go outside and meet winter. Have you ever had an experience in which you were trudging through cold, slushy snow, gray skies above, and suddenly had the taste for a bowl of hot homemade soup? Sip the first spoonful. Notice the flavor spreading across your tastebuds, warm, soothing liquid passing all the way into your belly. The comfortable feelings that follow can be very relaxing. In fact, you may just want to “go quiet” inside, muscles relaxing, breathing slowing as the system comes to rest.
How about this one? Walk through snow and listen to the crunching sound under your boots. Listen to how that differs from when the snow is slushy; or when it melts into a puddle. Who says you can’t walk on water!
Operating in the moment of your experience has its advantages. It allows you to stay open to all that is possible. In contrast, too often, people ignore what’s around them and orient their attention toward that which limits them. Problems. It seems so natural to allow them to consume your life, doesn’t it?
It won’t last forever
Stick around, the warm weather will be here soon. Then, the same people who experience winter as ugly and messy can experience summer as stiflingly hot and sticky. Do you know what “misery” is? Simply expecting something to be any different than the way it is at that moment.
One of the magnificent aspects of being human is having the choice to attend to what you wish; and realizing you are doing just that. Think about how differently you experience the very same winter conditions during the holidays versus now. So regarding your “spirits,” be present to the “experience of your life” in each moment; or encounter misery. You have the ability to choose.