Lessons from Winter

The above photo is of Grace Court looking west towards the river, that I think I either snapped last week or a couple snow storms ago.  I have lost count! 

My first winter back I remember complaining a lot, wishing I was back in California and doing yoga on the beach surrounded by flowering trees and leaping dolphins in the magical coves of Laguna.  My friend Jen commented I sounded a lot like Caroline, our friend Lisa's young daughter, who had a temper tantrum one cold January because she put on her bathing suit and wanted to go to the beach.  Kindof cute when you're five, not as much when you're several years older...

After 4 winters back East, I believe I have finally learned how to appreciate, and most of the time, embrace winter.   My acupuncturist (I say this knowing a few of you may chuckle and think "California" still, and yes) discusses seasons with the Chinese Medicine perspective, as symbolic seasonal shifts to be in harmony with for optimal health and well being.

Ultimately, it's also a lesson in pragmatism...Winter in the Northeast is an inevitability,  and somewhat foolish to keep resisting it;  may as well go for comfort not style in big down coats and snow boots, keep your head and neck warm and be like those smart bears and stay inside with hot soup and warm tea and just go to bed early until spring buds eventually arrive.

Of course there's a certain beauty to winter,  a sense of stillness and quiet, when you can look at trees and see "rest" instead of "barren".  You can look at the absence of color whiteness, like the photo above, and think "how peaceful" vs. "where is Hudson River?" and "Is the sun ever coming back??"    Attitude shifts are the critical ingredient in glass half full vs. glass half empty thinking, though of course some days are harder than others to maintain that perspective...


Yesterday a friend of mine from Manitoba, Canada (who I would hope has perfected the idea of embracing winter even better than myself!) posted a high minded platitude "Gratitude with every step" on her facebook status, and I smiled appreciating the sentiment.

I learned a few seconds later she updated the post and wrote:  "Now that we can edit our statuses, I can tell you than about 20 seconds after I posted the above - while feeling the lift of gratitude in my steps, I stepped in shit, literally, and I forgot all about the gratitude.  Well played life, well played." 

It brought me back to earlier this week, during the snow/freezing rain/ice storm of Wednesday, when I was making my way into midtown with my fellow subway commuters, slogging our way through slow crowded trains, grumpy people with wet umbrellas, and small lakes of slush on Park Avenue.   Though I was wearing high Adirondack boots, I stepped into a deep puddle of slush and water, and got my feet wet,  and grimaced as I thought about being in a full day meeting with wet socks, wet hair and cold feet.

Finally making my way to the conference room where our meeting was held, I was pulling off my boots and socks and struggling to maintain a sense being calm and pleasant to my colleagues (though felt like growling "Our office is closed, why in the world didn't we cancel this meeting??"), when I happened to check my phone and saw a text from a good friend....sharing unfortunate news about her health diagnosis, and that she was in a state of shock. 

My heart sank as I immediately stopped thinking about my wet feet and ice falling off the building, thinking instead of my friend and trying to imagine what she must be feeling and struggling with.  

When you step into the unexpected large puddles or "shit" of life,  you immediately realize there's an enormous difference between the theory and practice of rolling with the punches and maintaining gratitude with every step.   During those blindsiding times, I think it's simply enough to just try to do the best you can, and when you're able, put one foot after the other...