Happy Solstice!

Today was the last day of fall.  Tomorrow will be the shortest day of the year and the beginning of a new season.  It’s funny when this Solstice comes around because well, I often feel like we’ve already been into winter for weeks but here we are, it’s just the start. 

I’ve often thought how Christmas should be placed right in the middle of actual winter.  Perhaps at the end of January or mid-February where it really starts to get rough.  You know, to brighten our spirits, as it does or should do as we’ve been instructed to believe. 

But in actuality, it’s all really right on time.  I imagine for you, like myself, things are pretty chaotic right now.  Christmas prepping countdown craziness.  Or maybe, it’s smooth sailing for you, in which case, please send me your secrets.  My point is, if you look at things purely from a seasonal perspective, we’ve been headed downhill since about June 21st when the days started to become shorter.  Our harvests started to increase, we’ve been busy bees gathering food, preserving and storing it.  We’ve had big celebratory meals and gatherings to honour the physical work we had put forth.  Then when Halloween came around many of us grumbled when the Christmas decorations came out the day after we put our costumes away.  I know, I grumble too.  Mostly because it’s just a blatant show of capitalizing on treasured traditions and feeling like we’re getting pushed into a holiday season that we’re not ready for.  But if you take the nauseating consumer aspect out of it, it makes quite a bit of sense to begin preparations for Christmas as soon as fall is in mid swing.  Christmas is the time to reflect on all the work we’ve put forth during the previous year.  To celebrate the halfway mark of the dark days and to push forward through this new season. 

I feel like it all makes sense now because seasonally speaking it’s all been pretty chaotic for about the last 13 weeks.  We head into winter now to truly retreat.  It is the time for reflection on the past and for dreaming of the future.  Although it will still feel very dark for the next 13 weeks, after tomorrow, daylight will start to increase again.  Yes, the days will likely get quite colder and the snow will come but the earth is starting to tilt towards more daytime sunshine. 

We can drudge on through these days begrudgingly wishing them away while we desperately wait for the hot sunshine again or we can make beautiful use of this time.  To do our inner work as we spend more time physically inside.  Becoming aware of these seasonal opportunities makes me feel at ease and excited actually.  And this as well, explains why we have the New Year just after our winter solstice.  It’s the time to set our goals straight.  We can conjure them up, organize them and create action plans on how to achieve them!  This is our time!  Cause when spring comes - it will get busy again!  And then summer… well, I’ll be lying in my garden looking up at the sky and my gorgeous blooms towering over me, thinking to myself, ‘Good job Sophia, for taking that time in the cold harsh winter to dream up and act on the life that I truly want to live.’ 

If any of this resonates with you and you feel the desire to grab this season by it’s decking halls then please send me an email at [email protected].  I’d love to book a little meetup chat with you to understand what you’d like to work through during this coming season and for the New Year.  I have a few Programs for you to choose from for one-to-one accountability support, please check the Services page on my website.  It would be a delight and an honour to work with you.