Winter and Wellbeing

As we begin to ponder Christmas and all the things associated with this Winter season, you may experience a variety of emotions.

Christmas can be a period of light or darkness, one of relaxation or stress or one of hope or worry. It can depend. Sometimes what happens makes us joyful or concerned. Sometimes we reflect on things past - those with us or those not. Sometimes all the trappings of Christmas can make us feel happy or can completely isolate us.

I wonder how you feel this year?

Mental Health charities suggest Christmas is a time of year when a lot of us struggle with our wellbeing. MIND made a significant link between the health challenges linked to stress and Christmas in their report of 2015. One of the conclusions was that 76% of us had trouble sleeping at Christmas due to stress.

What causes this? Again it depends.

Their study suggested financial debt (41%), feeling lonely (83%) or finding Christmas stressful (81%) were the main reasons. Interestingly most people who suffer stress at this time of year don’t actually recognise it for what it is (Curtis, Coventry University 2002.)

So what do we do?

If this time of year feels a little too dark, we want to say don’t worry, that we are with you and that things can be brighter. Over the next few weeks we’ll look at using the themes, ideas and regular things about Winter to help our wellbeing. This blog is where we start.

Winter means a shortening of the days, a darkening of the nights and a dropping of temperatures. We’ve already had some snow here. Leaves fall off the trees and things feel a little bare. But there is reason for all this.

Spring wouldn’t exist without Winter. All that growth and life in Spring comes from the place of ending and clearing in Winter. Our audio meditation this week - Clearing the Decks - helps us understand that.

The Winter season also has many things to notice that we can take meaning from. Next week we’ll look at Light. Have you noticed that on these shorter days - when the sun shines and we get that crisp brightness we really enjoy it - it’s like Light is heightened because we have less of it. That’s something we can understand and take meaning from.

This all comes from a willingness to be curious and to find meaning in things happening around us. We did this a few months ago when we looked at Autumn. That process of change is something happening in nature but if we are curious enough to look at things, we can learn ideas and principles from this season of change that can mean things for our lives.

Einstein once said:

“The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size”

When we meditate and reflect, we take meaning from something and it can help us. Our mind can expand but so can our wellbeing. We can be encouraged, we can learn, we can be filled with Wonder.

So this week’s Shh… Meditation is all about Curiosity - being willing to see things. This is a brilliant wellbeing tool.

TRY THIS

Right now why not …

Stop

Be curious and…

Allow things to speak to you.

Allow the sky to speak to you. Allow the way a bird flies to speak to you. Allow someone’s laughter to speak to you. Allow the sound of the wind to speak to you.

Curiosity gives us the potential to learn and grow from all we experience. It’s a fantastic way to be very present in the moment too.

It’s a great tool to have as we navigate Winter.