Winter now your soul

Winter now your soul

Winter now your soul. Make good of the cold.
Do not carry on as normal—
as though the long nights were not telling you
to fold into your roots, to quit your reaching,
to clear your schedule and curl
into a ritual of hushening ease.

Winter now your soul. Make good of the cold.
There is no use in clinging on—
let yourself let go; settle into deep sighs
under thick blankets, the candles summoning
dulcet shadows on the wall. Empty is not devoid,
it is the space to breathe, the hollow for the seed,
the sanctuary in which you can slowly
regather yourself.

Gideon Heugh

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Do you have a practice of ‘wintering’? How do you plan to slow down during this fallow season?

I’ll be taking an extended break from social media at some point, and using the long evenings to light candles, read more, take time to reflect, go to sleep early.

If you want something to help ground your wintering, then it’s not too late to grab a copy of my Advent devotional, ‘Darkling‘.

Whatever you do, I hope you have a beautiful winter.

Gideon