Gaia's Cold Shoulder: Coping With Winter, Nourishing for SADness (a mini-anthology of remedies)

It's that time again

I'm sure you've noticed.

When the leaves flutter from the bark 

and the skies lilt. 

Do you have a sit spot to visit? 

Have you claimed a favorite tree to befriend for the cold season? 

Are you making steamy hot soup? 

Do you have a support system?

If you are anything like me (or how I was for most of my life) you might be crankily bracing yourself for the worst. Once you are forced to put your wool socks on (while everyone is talking about how stinkin' "cozy" they are and what sweater they'll knit next) you are grumbling in agony and despair. The coming of winter feels like a loss - of half your year, of your sanity, of your enjoyment of life, all the green and flowering friends you have frolicked with all summer. Dammit. *just* when you finally got that glowing olive tan, you've got to put on a long sleeved shirt! Hmph.

It's like a dark curtain descending upon you and all you want to do is sleep until spring.

Right? I know. It sucks.

I know deep inside you wish you could be all cheery and gleeful and excited about going out to pick apples on a crisp day or planning a holiday meal with your family.

But if even the mere thought of skiing or Christmas or snow makes you want to hurl, I feel ya. You're not crazy or dark or disturbed. You're a perfectly beautiful, normal, feeling human. And not alone.

If you're bundled up and warm enough to hang out with me a little longer here at this keyboard (grab the fingerless gloves and some tea, ok?) I'd love to share with you a mini-anthology of winter highlights that have helped me bond more deeply with my New England land and make deeper peace with the Seasons.

By sharing, I simply offer up any of these as possibles for you to try - as warming distractions, challenging initiatives, invitations to deeper Earth Intimacy, fun explorations ...... but most of all, to offer a glimmer of possible peace with the "w" word.

I'm not entirely there .... but there are more things in winter that now I actually look forward to. One of my first winter allies was the Cottonwood Tree:

COTTONWOOD TREE ALLY

Scaling down on Holiday Expectations was a biggie:

THE UNDERBELLY OF YULE

And an Article I wrote for Plant Healer Magazine

GAIA'S COLD SHOULDER - The Betrayal and Loyalty of Winter

Using Art to transform pain to ease, ugly to beautiful .... with my camera!

PHOTOGRAPHING ASPEN TREES

May your seasonal toolbag be full, dear one.

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Please note: All writing is copyright Ananda Wilson and may be circulated online in it's original link carrier (Plant Journeys.com) or linked to from another website with credit and captions or quotes, but may otherwise not be copied, reproduced, distributed or reprinted in any manner without express written permission of the author. Thank you for respecting my writing and intellectual property. May it serve you well.
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Storefront Launch at PoppySwap!

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