Warm Holiday Wishes
Each December during the winter holidays you may, like me, find yourself reflecting on the passage of time. The sights, smells and traditions of the season conjure some of our earliest childhood memories and reopen windows and doors that were closed behind us long ago. If your memories were happy ones, you’ll likely continue those traditions. Or you may choose instead to start some of your own, since adapting to change is what keeps us alive.
Over centuries in many parts of the world, winter celebrations evolved from very simple gatherings of family and friends around meals marking the end of the harvest to more elaborate holiday ‘seasons’ of merriment lasting a month or more. But regardless of religious and cultural beliefs, it’s human nature for the weary traveler to pause on the journey to seek light on a dark night, warmth from the cold and shelter for rest. Nearly all holiday traditions incorporate these ideas and include a message of peace, hope and charity.
From a feng shui perspective, the holiday season perfectly embodies the phases or wu xing of the five elements in nature. Winter is associated with the Water element, yin energy, the northern compass direction, midnight, tranquility, introspection and the emotion of fear. These are all necessary opposites of the yang summer fire months when nature conspires to keep us moving forward. Deep winter reminds us to silence the noise and hold back a bit. Distinguish between wants and needs, ponder relationships and surroundings and proceed with moderation. The journey inward begins in winter and with self-reflection, ends in knowing that all things are possible.
Wishing you moderation with time to reflect and an abundance of blessings to follow you home.
Diane Gallin