Dear friends,
I don’t know about you, but the last couple of weeks have felt (on a variety of levels) dark, gloomy…and dare I say sometimes scary?
We hold remembering and giving thanks with the onset of encroaching darkness and all that it evokes in us. The last remaining weeks of ‘ordinary time’ characterised by life, growth and hope are drawing to a close, and it feels harder to notice the good stuff.
Many are afraid of the dark. Darkness often has negative connotations and has been used by story tellers to great effect, for millennia.
Yet I find the opposite can also be true. Darkness can be a welcome place or season of peace and rest. A calm time to dream dreams. To reflect and to wonder. To heal and to grow.
The balancing point or breath, between looking back and looking forward.
In recent years I have discovered and come to love hygge. The Danish/Norwegian lifestyle concept centred on everyday coziness, comfort, warmth, and fellowship. For me it’s like mindfulness with fairy lights, candles and hot chocolate in your favourite mug. Something to lean into intentionally and enjoy. I wonder if you have heard of it?
So dear reader, my takeaway today as I light a candle and reach for the cosy throw is to ponder the growth and renewal that happens in nature, quiet and unseen. To remember that the spirit is working likewise in us.
-To savour the simple pleasures of good company and winter flavours.
-To cherish our time to listen and to dream.
-To notice that light shines more brightly in the velvety darkness.
The season will change soon enough, but for now I intend to enjoy this balancing point, this breath in between.
Love, Julia