Winter Is a Gate, Not a Pause: Entering the Inner Landscape

Winter is not the season we’ve been taught to meet. We rush past her thresholds, retreat indoors, and mistake stillness for absence. But the land is not gone — it has turned inward, and it is asking us to do the same. When we sever our connection to nature in winter, something in us dulls, quiets, and begins to ache. This season is not a pause from life; it is a different kind of intimacy ... one that can steady the mind, soften despair, and reveal a quieter beauty we only find by honoring inwardness rather than numbing it.

Winter can also remind us of loss, or deepen the absence of a loved one. It can acutely surface traumas we have experienced. But what if we took… one… small… step? What if we changed one thought... just for a single moment? What if we practiced methods that give us hope, one minute, one breath, one day at a time? What if, during this inward season, we made a quiet commitment to our own self-care, instead of allowing the cold season to draw us down?

Whitethunder Photography

Like most people, I do not like the cold. Yet there is a magic in it, if we are willing to lean in. The snow glints like shards of crystal under the pale sun, each flake catching the light like a tiny star. Frost coats the branches in delicate filigree, and the fog drifts low, softening the world into a landscape that feels like it belongs in a story whispered by the earth itself. Every breath is sharp and alive; every step crunches a rhythm into the quiet. The cold can sting, but it also sharpens, awakens, and reveals a beauty so profound that even the smallest pause — a hand brushing a frozen leaf, a glance across a snow-dusted field — feels like stepping into a hidden world, one moment at a time.

There will still be people who don’t like winter and that is okay. We do not need to force anyone else to see its magic, nor do we need their approval to tend to ourselves. This is why finding moments and methods to step out of the darkness of our minds matters. When we practice self-care, we are answering a call that belongs only to us, and we can gently, firmly, or silently state that boundary if others question it. Beginning small is not about doing everything perfectly; it is about getting up, showing up, and keeping the current of “doing” moving. The practice is not perfection, it is persistence, attention, and honoring the rhythm of each moment, even when the world outside feels frozen.

WHERE THE MIND CAN REST ~ A Journey into Stillness Through Nature Imagery

I've created Imagery Based-Nature Inspired Guided Meditations to help you along the dark months. Not all minds find peace in silence. These guided meditations gently use vivid nature imagery to calm mental noise, engage the imagination, invited ease without effort...and infused gentle drumming

A soft place to land for the restless, stressed, or overthinking minds. Rest doesn't have to be earned. It can be imagined.

This can be done in the comfort of you own home via zoom. I was considering opening up my home to do in person guided imagery but the stomach flu has been through our home. This means that people can either join me Monday OR Wednesday evenings January 12th - February 11th.

This is a small sample of what you will be experiencing:

Take a moment to pause and step into your inner landscape. Begin by settling your body and softening your mind, scanning from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, releasing tension with each breath. Imagine the warmth of summer on your skin, a gentle breeze brushing your face. Look up and see the wide, open blue sky stretching above. Hear the grass and trees moving in the wind, the quiet rhythm of the world around you. Watch birds flit from branch to branch, their movement effortless, alive. Let yourself rest in this space .....sensing......breathing......noticing...... allowing your body and mind to relax into the flow of presence, one..... breath..... at a time.

Whitethunder Photography

During this you could be moving your arms in the wind, noticing the wind in your hair or wiggling your toes...if being too still is an issue.

We have to feed our conscious mind with different information .... the kind that wakes us up instead of pulling us under. If we keep replaying old fears, frustrations, or the heaviness of winter, our awareness narrows and our energy dims. But when we intentionally bring in images of growth, movement, and possibility .... even small ones.... we shift the current of our thoughts. A single memory of sunlight on the grass, the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, or a bird’s song can ripple through our mind and body, reminding us that life continues, that beauty persists, and that we are not trapped in darkness. This is the practice of feeding our consciousness with life, moment by moment, breath by breath.

There are no resolutions required, just presence...."Where the Mind Can Rest" with Nature Imagery.