Winter night has fallen and wraps the land in a deep,
Quiet slumber.
The sun has long since set behind the horizon,
Leaving behind a stunning night sky that stretches out endlessly before your eyes.
You rest back under the canopy of stars,
A veil of midnight blue that shelters the stars the moon and all that lies beyond.
A million dancing,
Shimmering lights,
A symphony of pulsating heartbeat echoes peacefully through the ebony sky.
As night's embrace slowly fades to make way for the light of a new day,
Your body sways in remembrance because this tender dance between twilight and dawn is one that your body knows so well.
The sacred pulse of life beating beneath your feet,
Above your head and within your heart.
Eyes closed,
Heart open as life shifts and changes with such poise,
Gives value to all existence.
Nothing is deemed too small,
Too insignificant,
Too unimportant,
For something of worth can be unearthed in everything.
This sacred pulse,
This unceasing ebb and flow of life,
This ever-beating rhythm can so easily be forgotten.
The swirling energy of summer gradually gives way to the deep reds of fall and eventually to the icy blues and whites of winter.
Lush green trees become bare silhouettes against the night sky.
Wind carries the chill of winter,
Whispering its arrival through the holing gusts.
As nature transforms with broad sweeping brushstrokes,
The feelings that couldn't be expressed under the summer sun are now slowly emerging from the dark.
Winter moves in over the land with a weighted belt around its frostbitten bones.
As the shadow stretches,
The long night sells in and those forgotten corners within you,
Those guarded doors,
Can no longer remain sealed,
Can no longer remain hidden away in the depth of your heart.
As you walk through the winter night,
A thunderous rumble pervades the air.
The sound of galloping horses and pounding hoes reverberates in the darkness.
Trembling hues survey your surroundings.
A chill runs down your spine as ominous creatures emerge from the shadows.
You stand unarmed,
Unprotected,
With bare feet against the cold ground.
Your mind urges you to flee and to seek shelter.
Yet,
Despite the dread that is mounting inside of you,
You remain still.
For you know that those hollow-eyed creatures,
Those hooded silhouettes appearing from the dark,
Bears a hidden truth in their clasped hands.
A tiny,
Delicate seed that has been protected from the cold.
This small seed,
A fragile vessel of potential,
Is only able to sprout when the tears of heaviness are shed.
So you stand still,
For you know that instead of turning away from what your mind so easily deems as threat,
There are treasures to be found when embracing every part of yourself.
You know that you are capable of such profound and pure love for every facet of yourself,
Even those that can be so challenging to love and hold.
Your most wise self knows that heavy emotions and struggles are simply part of this human experience.
What your mind considered obstacles has become a tangled web of emotional wounds that have outgrown your body in their desire to be embraced.
There is worthiness even in the gloom,
My beloved friend.
In all creations,
An unspoken meaning.
And without the shadows of the night,
No light could ever return,
Without a cold,
Dark soil,
No seed would ever grow and sprout into the beauty of the wild.
Do not turn away from this season of your life,
For the darkness that sweeps across the land holds the depth of your feeling.
Your boundless heart is a meandering masterpiece that can tenderly hold any emotions that resides within you.
Every new feeling is screed like an honored guest standing at your door.
For you are a spectrum of vibrant shade,
Each with its own story to tell,
Its own purpose and place,
That when merged together form a beautiful tapestry of creation.
In your footsteps that reverberates the void of the night,
There is purpose.
Beneath the winter sky,
You are laid bare,
Exposed,
No longer able to find solace in the serenity of the summer night.
Now peace calls from a much deeper place,
A place of surrender to knowing that each thing serves a purpose.
Your most wise self will courageously open those solid doors,
Long hidden in the depth of your shadows.
This meandering path,
With its soaring peaks and deep valleys,
Will gently guide you back to your healing.
Now settle into your body.
This body is your home,
Your dwelling place,
Your container of all that differentiates of you.
This body is holding everything that is moving,
Existing,
Everything that's alive within you at this moment in time.
So be still my beloved friend,
Settle into the depth of your heart,
Boundless and vast,
Able to accept any discarded debris that has been washed ashore.
For your heart knows that the things lurking in the shadows are valuable tools to navigate a winding road.
Your heart,
Ever present,
Ever holding you in deep love,
Embracing all of your nuances and shades.
And in this knowing,
You will find peace.
Even if it's momentary,
You know that you can return to this sacred place again and again.
With the cold earth beneath your feet,
The winter storm howling outside like a demon that wants to bite your skin,
You have the courage to be still,
To feel,
To hold.
You dare to recognize that even in the depth of the darkest season,
Even within the innermost corner of your heart,
There are secrets waiting to be uncovered.
So honor the darkness that resides within you.
Honor the sorrow,
The pain,
The fear.
Honor the shame and emptiness.
Give honor to everything as it's what's making you a whole human being.
Embrace the still atmosphere of the longer night,
The gentle hush that blankets the world around you.
As the winter cold wraps its wail around your shoulder,
It is time to tend to your inner garden.
It is time to uncover what has been buried in the depth of darkness and cold,
What has been left forgotten and abandoned in the soil beds.
With your bare hands,
You dig deep into the soil to bring forth what's so desperately waited to be found,
Waited to be brought out into the light.
This which asks nothing more of you than to be held tenderly in the palms of your hands and looked upon with eyes that sees only worthiness,
Then returned to the fertile soil with your promise to never abandon yet again.
Feel a steady beating of your heart,
A rhythm your body knows so well.
It moves to it even when you journey through the quiet,
Cold nights of winter.
In the darkness,
You see your own reflection,
Witness your own wholeness,
Knowing that both bright and shadows are all parts of your journey from birth.
So rest back under the beautiful night sky and let the quiet stillness of winter surround you.
As the snowflakes spin and spiral around you like fairies,
You are slowly waved back into the great web of life.
