Winter. It is the Yin season. If fact it is the Yin within Yin season, the most Yin. Surrounded by the dark and cold. The perfect time to get deeper into our caves for warmth, protect our energy and actually restore the energy we used up all last year. It is not about total disconnection, though.
The connection or rather, reconnection, we should make at this time is with our inner selves. Getting to know You time. With the great darkness outside we need to shed some light but on the inside and discover the essence of our self. We spend most of our lives not connected to our spirit, soul. We are not grounded. We keep trying to have an out-of-body experience. As Wayne Dyer would say ‘we need to have an inner body experience.’
Water is the element of the winter season, its’ organ system is the Kidney.
We look as Water as the beginning. The beginning of our life and the next seasonal cycle. Our life started in water. Think of carbon life forms coming out of the oceans onto the earth. We came out of a placental sac filled with water. Water is considered deep and dark and it is connected to our source and our reserve bank.
Most things move slower in the winter. The cold contracts and make movements more restrained. It is the time to restore our reserves, filing them up for the busy year ahead. When we want to preserve food we put it in a cold and dark storage unit – refrigerator. We need to do this with our energy. In reality, we should be getting up later and going to bed earlier. Our society is not one that likes to go with this flow of seasonal energy. It creates its own flow which is more like a perpetual tsunami, and in the process we exhaust ourselves. We reward ourselves and others for going above and beyond. With our longer life expectancies this is not necessarily the best option.
The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and are considered part of the Kidney system. Because we do more and more to exhaust ourselves, working beyond our natural limits and draining our energy it is important that we make the time to rest and replenish. Try putting meditation onto your daily calendar just like getting up and going to work. You can take 10 min before you get up and 10 min before you go to bed. Just like learning to walk this takes practice. The important thing to understand is that your mind will never shut off, it’s not supposed to. You learn to master what you focus on and keep returning it when it wants to wander. You can also take short breaks during the day to do this. It really doesn’t have to be a long session. It is proven to slow heart rate, lower blood pressure and help you to better focus on the tasks to be done. It is the easiest way to get your second, third or fourth wind during the day. Free, no calories.
Every element has an emotional aspect and for Water the emotion Fear. Everyone is fearful from time to time. It is appropriate to use caution and act in a safe manner. However this fear is more a feeling of not having enough to face the challenges ahead. When you are constantly exhausted it is easy to feel even more fearful. Think of all the challenges our society faces today. Our new term ‘Homeland Security’ has become a euphemism for paranoia. When you are that scared, everyone is out to get you and you must arm yourself. Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t unpleasant people out there but everyone needs to take a step back, nourish our bodies and minds and educate ourselves in all aspects of these problems. Knowledge and understand are the balancing activities to conquer fear, not guns or hatred. The energy and attitude with which you address a problem with is what will come back to you. Try calm, meditation, understanding and a willingness to listen. It’s about communication, inner and outer.
So find a warm, comfy, dark place and spend some time exploring the inner You and understanding the world around you. It really needs to be done. This is the perfect season. What has been said for thousands of years “As on the inside, so on the outside.” If you see chaos all around you it is a reflection of what is going on inside you. Only you can change that. You can’t do it for anyone else but one person changing themselves can impact the world. It is the Power of One.