Balance
The month between American Thanksgiving and the year-end sacred holidays is full, full, full. Pageants, concerts, holiday parties, shopping specials, family gatherings. There is no end of opportunities to keep externally engaged. It is a time to reweave communities and families. It is a time of a lot of fun and good-heartedness.
Holiday lights
And it is also an important time for quiet tending to one’s life. Taking my cue from nature in the northern hemisphere, I am enjoying longer nights of sleep. I am tending more carefully to my hearth—evening fires, baking and cooking, and watching fluctuations in the barometer as winter storms blow through. And I am deepening the time I devote to special relationships.
Addressing Holiday packages
Balance. Nature teaches us a lot about balance—times of full output, times of rest. My wish for you in this season is balance in the fullness of your life.
Winter sunset Olympic Mts.
all photos by Christina Baldwin
Thank you for this gem, Ann.
Thank you. Learning to find more balance and ease in my life. Enjoy the long days of winter. Miss you.
Thank you for this, Ann. I love the the phrase “tending more carefully to my hearth” … what a helpful image and, more importantly, a reminder. As part of a group of 7 women who are sponsoring a Syrian family, life is, indeed, full! But how important it is to attend to our home life, Janice’s and my relationship, and all that you name as part of tending the hearth. I thank you for this … and wish you and Christina rich blessings this season!
And to you, dear Ann (and photographer, Christina)!
An awesome reminder. To live in connection with the earth and the seasons is a goal worth seeking. Thank you.