Soul
Resilience
“Like a
wild animal, the soul is tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, and
self-sufficient: it knows how to survive in hard places.”
Parker
Palmer (A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life)
As we move into the
darkest days of winter here in the northern hemisphere, some of us
have a difficult time with mood. Lack of sunlight may be the culprit.
Many people go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. Our
brains need full-spectrum light to produce certain hormones, among
them serotonin and melatonin, which stabilize sleep cycles and mood.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a real thing, a physical condition
caused by a drop in these hormones, and can be treated
effectively using light therapy (photo-therapy), medications and/or
psychotherapy. It's important not to simply suffer through the
low-light months, because depression creates other problems—physical
pain, relationship challenges, loss of productivity, and general lack
of vitality.
Others of us find the
holidays difficult. Everything feels more stressful because we
add to the demands on our time and energy—traffic is worse at a
time when we feel the need to hurry and get done whatever is on our
to do list. We are more prone to accidents, colds and flu waylay us,
and we may find ourselves being extra prickly with our significant
others. Winter can be a difficult time of year. Again, it's
important not to force yourself to endure the discomfort—important
for the people around you, too. Take a look at what is driving the anxiety and irritability, and make the necessary
adjustments--even if that means you don't do 8 of the 10 things on your list. Most of us prefer to have our friends and relations in a
good mood, more than to have that non-essential gift they battled
gridlock traffic to purchase. Personally, I favor cutting back on the
volume of gift-giving at the holidays, and simply giving unexpected
gifts throughout the year.
Another way to tackle the
darkness of winter and the challenges of the holidays is to make
contact with that wild and resilient soul of yours. In the midst of
the noise, the traffic, the irritating difficulties and low mood of
deep winter, the soul is there; it is never down, never tired, and
never missing in action. It is a reserve of abundant life in the
midst of poverty. It can buoy you up, carry you through the dark
days, be your companion and ally. It doesn't cost anything, and
is always giving. Whatever you can do to stay in touch with that part
of you, do it. You will recognize it as a quiet presence within, more
solid and grounded than stone, more effervescent than breath. It is
more real than the dark and cold of winter—they will pass, the soul
will not. It knows how to survive in some very hard places, and how
to dance its way to life. And it belongs to you alone!
In the Spirit,
Jane
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