The End of Winter

It's been a long, snowy and cold winter for most of us.  Here in the mountains of West Virginia it was.  Once again I seem to go into hibernation mode.

I haven't written for a long time because it appears that winter time is part of my deeply contemplative mode.  And contemplate I did.  In fact, there were times I didn't want to but the long cold days demanded it.

During this time I spent a lot of time with my growing puppy, Jackson.  I managed to stay connected with friends.  I helped my husband prepare for his long and bitter cold nights on top of Coal River Mountain.  And many hours were spent reading.

In March I traveled to Richmond to meet friends in Virginia for a concert.  It was wonderful yet strange.  I helped teach a couple of Reiki classes and my herbal classes resumed.   I meditated a lot and gave Reiki to myself, everyone around me and everything around me.

My husband and I made it though the winter without any illness.  A couple of times we had some beginning symptoms of a virus or cold.  Thankfully, using Reiki and plant medicine we were able to lose it quickly.  Surprisingly so.

The most important activity of the winter was continued emotional healing.  I was able to work through a large amount of anxieties and pain acquired during the incredibly difficult years of my life.  Things that were buried deeply inside me worked their way to the surface.  It wasn't fun and many times I tried to fight it.  However, I finally realized what was happening and stopped resisting.  I let it happen.  Although it was very painful at times it was a great experience in the long run.

I am able to see things from a wider perspective and it has given me a higher level of compassion for the human condition.  The situations people have to endure at times is heartbreaking.   And with this I learned to listen.  No longer trying to "fix things"; I finally got it that the most important act of compassion is to listen.  Allowing a wounded person to bear witness to their pain is sometimes the most compassionate action there is.  And maybe the most healing.   Bearing witness is acknowledging.   I learned that one of the most important steps of emotional and spiritual healing is to acknowledge and legitimize the pain.

Once the pain is on the table then the work of healing can begin.

That's what I learned this winter.