MENDING TIMES

When the calendar year begins, there can be a great temptation to rush in and start afresh. Suddenly all has to change - and we leap into action. But what is moving in nature? How do trees or rivers or birds react to a new year? Do they change from one day to the next? Or do they stay awhile in Winter and take time as the days lengthen? If you were an animal or a plant right now, what would you wish to do? How would you be with this season, however it is where you are?

January is often not a popular month. It can seem grey, both in light and in feeling. A waiting month, after the festivities are over and before warmth creeps back in. But instead of simply sitting it out, maybe we can welcome January for what it brings?

In some places, January is a mending time. A tending time. To sit quietly and look at the resources for the coming year. In what shape are our tools? Do they need cleaning, sharpening, fixing? Do we need to add something new, or do we have what we need? When we stay slow in January, we can put things in order and be more prepared when Spring begins.

January can be a month with its own purpose and seasonal power. It helps us to know what we have - from the year that was, for the year that's coming. If we want, we can meet the whole month as a threshold transition. Breathing through these weeks gives us time to come into being, instead of jumping into action.

By choosing to live our lives with a seasonal rhythm, and not only in clock time, we begin to be with what is present, and let it help us. It is easier to work with the energy in Nature than to fight against it. We can become more in tune and connect to what is here. If you go out today, what do you notice? How is the world around you living at this time?