As we’re now living in the Colorado mountains, we’re experiencing more snow and cold than we did in the Denver metropolitan area where the climate is relatively temperate. In fact, we’ve had a foot of snow this past week that has kept us close to the fire and off the beaten paths even as the snow plows keep working their magic to create openings for those who choose to travel. In this space of appreciating the beauty of snowflakes, I’ve wondered about those who spend winter in climates with no cold and snow.

What’s winter like for them, for you who have no snow, no significant shifts in weather, no grey days that cover the landscape and clouds that reach from the heights of the sky to the depths of the ground? Van Gogh says: “If you truly love nature, you’ll find beauty everywhere.” From my inner depths I acknowledge this, yet as a person who has spent a lifetime of winters with the cold and snow, I’d have to look long and hard to find beauty everywhere in the winter without it. It touches a special mystical space within me!

It’s not that I haven’t been to warm climates in the winter but it’s only been for a week or two, not for a whole season. On the other hand, I’ve spent most winters in cold snowy places where it could and would snow for days. I remember a few seasons as a rancher where, being alerted to an incoming blizzard, I would bring the livestock into a feeding area where hay was stored. It was within walking distance from the house so I could get to it. The aftermath would take days to dig out with a tractor and strange as it may seem, I loved every bit of it. I couldn’t get too much winter in the winter. . . .

In reflection on winter and our wisdom of not knowing in our knowing, I’m touched by the enough-ness of every season as changes keep unfolding throughout the year. The ongoing cycles of pregnancy, birth, growth, generativity, harvest, dormancy, death and new life continue season after season, year after year, generation after generation, century after century into infinity and new creation. There’s an ongoing sense of enough-ness, of an anointing and blessing of all that is, has been and will be.

What’s enough is the ever present flow of life that embraces all apparent opposites; that brings everything together into a verdant harmony that seems beyond our comprehension and present day consciousness. Locked into our everyday running around and unconscious consumerism, we forget to stop, look, listen, learn, love, laugh and lighten up enough to embrace the moments as they appear. It seems we get so caught up in our selves trying to gain the world that we lose our own souls. Hmm? ? ?

What is enough? Isn’t kindness like the snow? Doesn’t it beautify everything it covers? Is there ever enough of it? In the coldness of a deep emotional disturbance does it not warm the heart to melt the darkening disturbance? Can we get too much winter, too much kindness, too much water to quench the thirst of our depleted reservoirs? Winter is a lingering season, a time to gather precious moments, embark upon sentimental journeys and enjoy idle hours; a time when inner things happen for the greater good,

For those of you who experience snow in the winter and for those who don’t, think of kindness as the snow of this winter season of soul. Allow it to fall from wherever you are. Create times when you are showering others with love in the midst of a blizzard of kindness brought about by something invisible flowing through you. Awaken to the wonder of this loving kindness until you know that you can’t get too much winter in winter, because it lingers on and on and on within the divine energy of the Kosmos.  

• This winter, no matter where you are, see kindness as the snow that purifies the air, clears the pathways of the heart , slows the traffic and brings joy to the world. Allow your inner being to feed yourself and others with blizzards of kindness. . . .
• When there’s no snow, kindness, imagine what it would be like if it was gently falling from the sky. In these moments, let kindness be the snow in this winter of your life. Allow your True Self to be a snow maker. Let this kindness flow and cover everything you see. Take note of how this snowfall of kindness feels to you and others. . . .
• Kindness, like snow, can sometimes be light and gentle as well as heavy and tough. Experiment with the degree of snowfall you experience with others and with yourself. Feel the wonder of this soulful kindness as you let go and let it snow.  After all , it’s an ongoing gift of Transcendence, Reverence and Peaceful Presence. . . .