With winter now here, I’m thinking about how to work with this season in harmony, rather than resent it or wish it gone. I have always been a hot weather, summer kinda girl!!
There is a feeling of hunkering down, grounding to the earth and taking strength and sustenance from it. I recognise that slowing down and coming back to myself is what might be most helpful and nourishing during these colder and darker months.
I welcome this yet retract slightly from it as well. Many times, slowing down feels reckless and lazy. If I slow down, what if I can’t catch up again. The world moves quickly – or so it seems. But perhaps it is not the world moving fast, but more the ceaseless, striving activity of humans that I am observing and feeling instead.
I am reminded of the times when I used to spin a bucket around and around, knowing that if I spun it fast enough, the force of the spin would keep the liquid in the bucket (the secret to making good ‘billy tea’). As a child, I never understood how this worked (and due to my skipping physics at school, still don’t). But I knew that if I slowed down the spinning, the contents would spill and there would be a mess to clean up.
Am I, or have I been, that spinning bucket? Are we all spinning buckets on a spinning planet? Everyone too scared to slow down (or stop) for fear of spilling out everywhere, never to be regathered, and facing a big mess to try and clean up?
I am enjoying slowing down, being deliberate, aware and connected.
I am fortunate to be able to stop my bucket spinning. And while stopped, I want to fill my bucket with goodness, compassion and connections. I want to keep my bucket steady on the ground, letting others take from my bucket, and then find ways in which to keep refilling it.
I want to give willing to those who need or want something from my bucket, something that might help them or nourish them. But I will also be careful to protect my bucket from being drained by those who do not care, love or give of themselves.
My bucket cannot be filled while spinning. It must be still, calm, open and sturdy. Winter seems like a great time to ensure my bucket keeps filling and giving.
