Tending the Light Within

'Tis the Season... to allow your self-care routine to engage all parts of you.  For the body, yes… It’s nice to eat well, treat yourself, rest up, take a soothing bath, enjoy your comforts and treats.  These things are important because we engage in the pleasures and relaxation of our senses, we take care of our bodies, and we engage in modern comfort and the fun of living life.

​For the mind, engage in your meditations.  Enjoy interesting and pleasurable mental pursuits – a good book, crossword puzzles, decent conversation, or anything that stimulates your mind towards ease or fun.  Relationships are also important components to our minds and mental-emotional awareness, so be mindful of your attitudes and thoughts throughout the day, especially in relation to others.  Take care with your emotions and opinions.  Make a deliberate effort to tend your mental-emotional body with gentleness and compassion – first for yourself so that you are in a position to tend it in the presence of others.  

When you look at party invitations, schedules, events, and friendly or familial gatherings and communications of all kinds – even if you’re just running an errand and will be “out-and-about” – and prepare yourself by being aware of your mental-emotional body, your thoughts and feelings.  If you begin to feel drained, unfocused, upset for any reason or to any degree, allow yourself a few minutes to reset your headspace, clear and calm your mind, and realign your mindset with better thoughts to get the ball rolling on higher vibration feelings.
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If you accept an invitation for anything or have anything you feel you must do, prepare your mindset even before scheduling it or accepting it.  Put yourself into a headspace of gratitude, hopefulness, peacefulness, fun and enjoyment, or some sense of good humor.  If you are aware that such an event may have plenty of not-so-good-feeling triggers or expectations for you, choose to not accept the invite or prepare yourself in the same fashion ahead of time including an “exit strategy”, a socially graceful way of excusing yourself once you have brought as much good energy into the situation as you can.  Simply be honest with yourself, set aside expectations of uncomfortable or unpleasant feelings in favor of your desire to feel good, and be aware of your boundaries.  

​And, of course, the part of you which tops all others – your spirit.  Take plenty of time to tend your spiritual connection to your inner light.  Take plenty of time for those meditations that strengthen your spirit, light up your soul, ignite your passion for living, and allow your imagination some joyful play.  Take walks in nature (bundled up if you’re cold) for grounding and centering.  Listen to soul-inspired instrumentals that evoke your joyfulness.  And listen to your favorite music that always inspires and uplifts you.  Awaken your playfulness with family and friends, or even just with your own imagination – engaging in some creative endeavor like crafting, painting, decorating your space, cooking and baking, drawing, writing, composing music, playing instruments, making up songs to sing in the shower.  Find any way to allow yourself to truly laugh and play from within – not just because someone else told you a funny joke or some clown in a movie entertained you but from within your own lightheartedness rediscover your playful and creative side using your imagination, pleasures, interests, openness, and joy.

​In Winter, we have a great opportunity to share and serve others and be grateful for all we have.  However, we often neglect that – after harvest time is time to tend the self and go within.  So many people who experience a difficult time mentally and emotionally in this season may blame it on their loneliness, or their lack of motivation to do and socialize on the weather, and many have a difficult time processing thoughts and emotions and being hopeful for the new calendar year.  They try to force themselves to be motivated by the achievement of goals and resolutions that they sabotage before even getting started.  This is because this is NOT the season for big social events and grand productivity achievements of the final quarter.

This is the season to choose self-care in some solitude over loneliness.  This is the season to tend your health in everyway and cleanse yourself and your space, both inner and outer.  This is the season to tend your inner light and allow that shining inspiration to filter those nearest and dearest to you in support of their inner light as well.  This is the season to clean-up your energy and vibration from all that you released in the last few months, tidying up the residuals, and taking the time to tend and care for the blessings you were given.  In so doing, then, we also look ahead dreamily to how what we have gained will serve us when the time is right, how we are inspired to grow in the spring.  Yet still, we have time and need to take time to strengthen the inner light, to shine bright through dark winter nights with those we love, to celebrate the collective shining light in our homes, families, friends, and communities.

This is truly a season of lights, light in the darkness, and inner light above all else.  May your inner light be tended carefully, may your space be cleansed pleasantly, may your light shine bright for all those who matter most to you, and may peace and blessings be drawn to your light like a moth to the flame!