It gets dark so early now.
Some days it feels like the sun barely bothers to come up at all.
If you've been feeling a bit dim lately, a bit slow, you're not the
only one.
Let's find some warmth together, for six minutes.
Get cozy.
Socks on, blanket over your knees, whatever you've got.
Let your eyes close.
Picture snow falling outside a window.
Big, slow flakes, drifting down with no hurry at all.
Notice how quiet everything goes when it snows.
The roads go hushed, and even the far-off sounds seem wrapped in cotton.
Watch one flake.
Follow it all the way down until it lands and disappears into the white.
Then pick another.
Let yourself slow down to the speed of the snow.
There's nowhere to be.
Out there it's cold and gray, but in here, right now, you are safe
and warm.
Breathe in slowly through your nose...
And breathe out through your mouth, like you're warming your hands on a cold
day.
In again...
And out...
that same slow, warm breath.
Now bring your attention to the middle of your chest.
Imagine a small warm glow there, like the first coal catching in a fireplace.
Each time you breathe out, it glows a little brighter.
A little warmer.
Let it spread across your chest.
Into your shoulders, and down your arms to your fingers.
They might feel tingly, or just less cold.
Down into your belly now.
Your hips.
all the way to your toes inside those socks.
You're warm from the inside, the way you feel after a bowl of soup
when you've come the in from cold.
Stay there a moment.
If your mind wanders off, to the cold or the dark or what you
should be doing, that's okay.
It happens to everybody.
Just come back to the glow in your chest.
Let's think of three cozy things you actually love about winter.
Real ones,
not the postcard ones.
The first one.
Maybe a warm mug in both hands.
Let yourself really picture it.
The second one.
Maybe flannel sheets on a freezing night.
Or someone's slightly terrible knitted sweater.
And the third.
It can be anything.
Fairy lights in a dark window, maybe, or the smell of oranges being peeled.
Notice that these are all small.
Winter is full of small good if things,
you slow down enough to see them.
Here's something worth remembering.
Winter is a season for rest.
The trees aren't failing when they drop their leaves.
The ground isn't lazy under the snow.
Everything slows down so it can come back later.
You're allowed to do that too.
If you're sleeping more and getting less done...
that's not you falling behind.
That's you being a person in winter.
Say to yourself, quietly.
It's okay to rest.
I carry my own warmth.
Stay here a little.
Snow falling outside,
and you, warm and still, right in the middle of it.
If the dark evenings have been heavy on you lately, let this be one
small bright spot in your day.
You made time for it.
Okay.
Let's start coming back.
Wiggle your fingers and toes.
Pull your blanket a little closer,
or stretch your arms out The wide.
glow in your chest doesn't go out when you open your You eyes.
can take it with Out you.
the and door into the On cold.
the bus, or walking home in the dark at five o'clock.
When you're ready, open your eyes.
Maybe go and make that warm You've drink.
earned it.