Winter Solstice
What does it mean for you?
Newsletter
DECEMBER 2023
Written by Tina Bishai
Believe it or not, we have made it to the end of 2023! WOW!! What a year!
I thought it would be nice to look at some of the positive things we get to experience this December. As you know, there are many celebrations coming up in the month of December all around the world- Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, and Omisoka.
Did you know that Winter Solstice not only brings the shortest day and the longest night of the year, it is also a time for rebirth, renewal and the return of light into our days here in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s a perfect time for reflection as we come upon Winter Solstice (Dec 21st) because it’s a time to look inwards. Maybe we have it all backwards? With the bustling of holiday season, running around getting gifts for loved ones, gathering with friends and family spending countless hours preparing, expending all our energy outwards. With the extra darkness leading up to winter solstice, it can be a time of great nurturing, of turning inwards and reflecting.
For many Indigenous cultures, it’s a time of reflection, of thanking their ancestors, sharing stories, honoring their origins, and setting intentions for the cold months ahead. What if we took a page out of this for ourselves?
Who would you sit around the fire and speak about? What stories might you tell your kids? Or perhaps you don’t know many, and so it gives you an opportunity to connect with the grandparents around the fire, and have them share more of the stories that haven’t yet been told.
As you personally reflect on your year, I encourage you to highlight all the good things you remember – your blessings, and what went well. Perhaps give gratitude for the people that came into your life, or strangers that said nice things to you. A smile that touched your heart on a day when you needed it. We often focus on what we accomplished in a year. What if for one moment, we could settle into BEING, and appreciate how we were being this year. Our kindness, loving thoughts or gestures, our laughter and smiles. How were you being? What can you appreciate about yours and others ways of BEING?
If I may suggest you BREATHE deeply to allow the warmth of your thoughts to penetrate every cell of your body. And if the holiday season is difficult for you….even more reason to breathe and to look for something good that you can be thankful for. Whenever you’re feeling down, the best thing to do is to give back in some way to another person. We can ALWAYS find something to be grateful for.
Even if you feel it’s hard to find – it can be as simple as giving thanks for your heart that keeps beating without you telling it to, or your lungs that automatically keep filling up with oxygen. We tend to take so much for granted, and have so much, that we forget about the smaller things -which are no less significant.
So as Winter Solstice approaches, and you take stock of your life and how you’ve been BEING this year, what are some challenges that you overcame? What traits and ways of being are you proud of, that you’d like to carry into 2024? And perhaps there are some traits and ways of being you’d prefer to leave behind. When you find those examples, don’t scold yourself, look with your awareness and choose to let those ways go. To leave them behind. To exhale deeply and replace them with something you would prefer.
Of course, you can look at your accomplishments, I’m not saying not to look here. But DOING doesn’t define you or make you any more worthy than BEING does. Read that one again and allow it in, please. You might say, “But Tina, I have to do things. I can’t just sit on the couch and be.” And I’d say, you’re right. But so many of us drive ourselves into the ground accomplishing things until we run out of steam, that we never stop to notice our way of being. Isn’t it better to put your way of being first – decide how you want to be – before you go about and take actions? At the end of the day, if you’re stressed, anxious, and depressed in your way of being, and accomplish lots of things outside of yourself, what is the point? Wouldn’t it be better to consciously and with your awareness choose peaceful, calm, and loving interactions? Make a point to center yourself on this momentum each and every day before you take action toward your goals or duties.
Because Winter Solstice is a magical time to give thanks and to release what no longer serves you. Let’s make a pact. To put together a list of ways of being- ways you love and want to continue with. And ways you prefer to let go of. As December 21st approaches, have your list of ways that you’d prefer to release, and send them on their way, either by burning them in a fire or tearing the paper up and releasing them into the blowing wind outside. Yes, this is symbolic, but your intention is in the right place. Keep calling in that which you desire in your way of being, with thanks and gentleness if you stray. For you will stray often. It’s just a matter of your response to it that matters most. May this holiday season bring you much reflection, joy, and gratitude for all that you are, all you have been, and all you choose to BE in 2024!
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