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Celebrating the Soul of Winter

by Marlaina Donato

Inevitably, the wheel of the year turns with the nuances of the seasons hardly noticed in the blur of our busy days. “Next year,” we say, when we realize that we’ve run out of time to try that holiday recipe, connect with friends or revel in a winter sunset. Collecting small joys takes us out of survival mode and into wideawake living. Pausing to sip from winter’s steaming cup of comfort can be the perfect way to begin a new chapter that prompts us to come back to the center.

In the ancient world, fire festivals marked holy days celebrating the sun’s promise of return and supplied felicity in a time of hardship. Today, something inside our ancestral memories makes us crave celebration as we wrap the year’s end in shiny ribbon, ethereal lights and scented candles. Singing, chanting or caroling this time of year—“old-fashioned” pastimes—were ancient elements of winter’s revels that invited benevolent energy and chased away bad luck. While most of us no longer grace our neighbors with song, raising our voices to any capacity can be an offering, an invitation to hope and beauty. Singing multicultural songs with the kids, writing a spontaneous prayer or sharing seasonal or funny stories naturally boosts the immune system and helps to fight off the winter blues.

Winter has its own jewel-toned beauty that rivals summer’s most dazzling hour if we pay attention: ruby fruits baked with brown sugar, rosy desert mornings and snowy sapphire twilights. Pointing out December constellations over a beach or lacing up our boots for a brisk walk helps us to unplug from the world’s problems. Sprinkling heart-healthy spices in our morning coffee opens a gloomy day on a lovely note.

Winter can feel long, so go ahead and treat your senses; buy a few yards of red velvet to sleep on or pick up that novel you’ve been planning to read. Live and give a little more deeply. Feed the birds and feed your soul.

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Marlaina Donato is an author and a composer of ambient holiday music. Connect at WildflowerLady.com.

by Matt Preston

As the year wraps up, it’s a nice time to take stock in how the universe may be reaching out in positive and uplifting ways. And one thing that humanity needs now more than ever, and has pretty much always needed, is a positive energy. Here are three ways the universe may try to get that message out.

Signs, although sometimes they aren’t easy to recognize. When the universe uses signs, it can be anything to anyone and endless in nature. It can be related to taking a new job in a new city, maybe Seattle. If all of a sudden you start getting Starbucks coupons even though you don’t drink coffee or notice an inordinate amount of Frasier reruns on TV, that could be a pattern for sure. Another common example of signs is numbers. It can sometimes be hard to explain as the most common critique is that someone is looking for them. The best are the truly random examples that occur, the gym being an easy place for that. It could be looking up at the TV at just the right time to see lottery numbers that match someone’s signs, checking a stopwatch or looking at the treadmill panel at just the right moment so see the numbers pass by. These are some of the many great ways that the universe puts out subtle nods. Energy is another way to know that positives are either here now or around the corner. Even when things aren’t going great, if someone still shows that drive to be positive, it’s such an important way to engage. This shows a determination to keep one’s vibes at a higher level. This could also be a great way to get someone to focus on their talents or opportunities or help those around the community. This is especially true for artists, that find that their energy is at its most positive when they’re expressing themselves. Just the same, this could go for athletes, those that like to garden or cook or essentially anyone open enough to receive. This doesn’t always have to be something that’s Earth shattering or life altering either, but just being able to absorb the message. And having your head and heart space prepped and ready to go to receive it could, literally, make all the difference in the world.

Destiny is something that’s a little harder to pin down and is hardly an exact science. It’s not exactly tangible, but the concept is proven all the time. There are many examples of meeting people that affect us positively or negatively, zigging when they could have zagged. We have to stop being our own worst enemies as a species and not just listen, but engage the process in a positive way. In looking at just these three aspects, it’s a great template to help us focus on what someone could be missing. And if just a quarter of humanity did this, consider how much longer it would it take for the rest of us to catch up. The hope remains it wouldn’t be too long.

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