Love & Resilience - Slowly does it . . . .
I have been meaning to write to you since last year. These days, the days seem to flow so quickly, sometimes it feels like a year in a flash -- So it is in this quieter, in-between moment I am sitting down to write to you.
I hope the holidays have given you some time for rest and for gathering.
This year I have become even more aware of quite how much 'doing' we are all encouraged to do through December and into January. Dont get me wrong, I love gathering with friends and family, sharing a meal or sitting around a fire with conversation to-ing and fro-ing, but more and more I am drawn to hunkering down, drawing in and resting, allowing nature to lead.
Over the winter months this year I plan to do less. I feel aware of what a luxury it is to be able to say that out loud and what a challenge it might be as it is not my default setting. At this time, I am saving any thoughts of new year 'resolutions' for when the light returns. Over the days of December I wrote down some seeds for the coming year .. thoughts, wishes, changes and I shall wait for them to germinate. When the light returns in springtime, I shall return to them. So in a way I guess I will start my new year in the Spring this year :) !!
I made a post on instagram a few days ago, wishing for 'love & resilience and the power of community to flourish' this year. I keep returning to community as the solution to the challenges we face right now and the power, support and strength that community gives us all. It offers the possibility to both lean into each other and to lift each other up -- to create the neighbourhoods that we wish to live in.
Just today I saw a post on instagram about the Wolf Moon which is the first full moon of the new year. Did you get to see it on Saturday evening in the clear crisp night?
I share a bit with you here as it weaves together both wintering and community so beautifully -
"... The Wolf Moon rises just after the winter solstice, when daylight has only just begun its slow return. Its light feels ancient, thin and bright like a blade, illuminating the stillness that winter protects. This is the moon of early beginnings - a beginning that does not rush, a beginning that gathers strength in the dark before stepping forwards.
Wolves survive the leanest stretch of the year through connection : travelling together, protecting their young, sharing warmth. Their howls are not cries of hunger alone but a way of staying linked across vast distances of snow and silence."
- friends of the forest
(non-profit organisation Connecticut @friendsoftheforestct
How beautiful is that?
I keep turning over in my mind how I can nurture a sense of community? Back in 1997 I set up a natural health centre on the Cowley Road, it was such a community hub, I closed the doors in 2016, I do miss it. I have thought for a few years now about doing something similar but with how Oxford is set up - it creates a challenge, I am still working on a way to make it viable.
So then I start thinking smaller - what are the elements that create community at a local level? For me, at its core, it's about looking out for each other.
It is the importance of "We" over "I".
In our community, I feel so grateful to spend my days in my treatment room. It allows for a slowing down - a slower pace - it is a space that promotes a single focused attention that is so precious. Thank you for sharing that with me and for allowing me to do the work I do. It is you that creates the possibility, in choosing to join me in a process in the space I have created.
As a collective thought as we step into the depths of winter - perhaps we can remember to look more towards nature and be a bit more 'wolf ' as we flow back to our "normal" lives and busy schedules - by slowing down - not rushing, by gathering strength and thriving through connection and shared experience.