As fall approaches and the sun begins to sink lower in the sky, many find the changes in the season unsettling as we are forced to go within, not only within our homes, but within ourselves. This can be challenging especially when there are unresolved past issues or even trauma in one’s life. Fall and winter can be a time when these dark memories of the past emerge, sometimes leaving us feeling isolated, alone, or depressed. Memories of deceased loved ones surface and upcoming holiday’s can present us with feelings of isolation, grief and loss.
For many, just the lack of sunlight and the shorter days leaves us feeling down, tired, and withdrawn. We can also find that we struggle with motivation and find it hard to simply get through the day.
There are many ways to deal with the changing seasons like bringing fresh flowers into homes and offices, painting walls a cheerful color, joining a gym, starting a new hobby, or talking to someone who understands the struggle.
If you find the changing seasons difficult, it’s important that you don’t wait until the season has begun but to plan ahead. What do you need to stay healthy and happy? Do you need routine health and wellness appointments? Do you need to see friends, go out for a coffee or learn how to be present to all the good things in your life, instead of focusing on the darkness outside? What we focus on grows, so during this transitional time, it’s important to stay focused on how you can help yourself and how you can meet your emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual needs.
Winter can also be a spiritual time, a time for going within, for reflecting and for facing our losses. The darkness of winter can be enlightening as we shed light on our inner world and find peace, serenity and acceptance of what is. Often, we struggle to travel within as it takes us out of our comfort zone, but by embracing the darkness, the winters of our lives gives us a chance to free ourselves from past painful experiences and a space to heal our broken hearts.
Learn how to embrace the darkness and rejoice in the light that is already there waiting for you. When you accept the darkness, you also embrace that part of yourself that needs healing, comfort or care. The struggle within is also representational of the darkness we avoid. Instead of fighting the dark, become still with it. The less we resist, the better we feel.
By learning how to embrace the darkness of winter and the losses, the sorrow, the pain or emptiness, is where we also enter into the light of our very own souls. This is a sacred place and within the sacred, there is light…
