Feb. 5, 2021 - I’m thinking about winter, of course. For my time in Vermont, which is nearly half my life, I’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with the experience of Vermont’s dark, cold winters. The big winner has been leaving…but I’m sticking around this year because of COVID.

I have kind of looked at winter as a thing to not experience and get to other side of, as opposed to embracing. It’s been more of a “holding my breath until it’s over” situation. In the book I just finished, “Wintering”, she finishes the book by talking about this concept, and quotes Alan Watts - “Holding your breath is losing your breath.” What he is saying is that holding and breath and waiting for something else or something better is losing life. You are missing out on what now is. That’s what I’ve been doing with winter, for sure. By trying to deny it exists I’ve been missing that part of my existence. It’s like denying 1/4 of my life…that doesn’t seem like a good plan!

So, this winter I see that what I’ve been doing is not holding my breath for the escape of winter, because there is no escape. Instead I have spent more time outside than ever, and it’s actually created some great memories. Another things the author says in “Wintering” is that the present will be your past, and your future will be your present, so if you want good memories, have a great present, or at least one that’s not in denial.

I hope you can embrace appreciate whatever your “present” is today, and enjoy this class as something to look back on remember it as a positive experience.