Meditation for the Winter Blues

Today’s meditation is more of a contemplation. 🙂

I was home yesterday with my little one and we already had a lot of pent-up energy despite a busy morning. It got me thinking…. everyone knows about spring cleaning but what about the other seasons? I glanced around my house and noticed a summer of fun (and housekeeping neglect) in dust bunnies and spider webs hanging out in the smallest crevices of our house. I grabbed my bottle of thieves cleaner and handed my toddler a dust rag and we got to work, mostly on our hands and knees deep cleaning the base boards, the stairs, vacuuming and dusting. We got to all those places that get missed when doing a superficial clean. We picked off all the dried, dead leaves on our houseplants and gave them a little extra TLC. I have to admit, my husband would make a much better housewife than I ever would at least in the cleaning department. I really have to be in “the mood” to clean but yesterday the inspiration hit me. It really felt like a moving meditation.

 

What was all that dust in those corners all about metaphorically? What was I hanging onto that was no longer serving me and causing stagnation?

It was time to clean up and let go.

What was so awful about winter? Why all the dread?

In Chinese Medicine acupuncture is just one branch of the whole system, feng shui is another component. Feng Shui is all about proper placement so that energy can flow smoothly in your environment. This can get complicated or it can be really simple. Do you feel good in your surroundings? If you do, awesome! If you don’t give your space a good clean and rearrange some furniture.

Another thing I noticed was that I am very resistant to even thinking about winter and how fast it is approaching, all this cold and darkness. Again, Chinese Medicine offers us a system of balance: brightness and darkness, hot and cold, yin and yang etc etc. Winter is a piece of that puzzle. It is a time to counterbalance all that bright energy and heat of summer. And, Winter is especially a time of reflection and going inward: a time to face one’s fears.

So my meditation for you today is this: when the mood strikes you grab a dust rag, your favorite music and move your body. Enjoy the untangling of your home and mind as you put everything back together again and then enjoy how good it feels to have a clean home!

Join me for a 4 week series of meditations to mindfully move through the holidays Nov 25-Dec 16 Mondays 12:00p-12:30p. You can find more info here.Â