Ep 48 Lessons from the Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice is an opportunity for natural pause. In today’s episode, we ask a lot of questions: How do we lean into the darkness and even enjoy it? What resources will we need? What’s the significance of community? What does it mean to immerse ourselves in a “deeper soaking?”  

Sacred, beautiful, and important things happen in these winter months. Join us as we discover them together. 

Additional Resources
Book: Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor

#Hiking
#Solstice
#Darkness
#MentalHealth 

For Transcript:
Go to the "Transcript" Tab.
If you are in a player that does not have the Transcript Tab, use the link below:
https://thecontemplativelife.buzzsprout.com/1642654/9719743-ep-48-lessons-from-the-winter-solstice

Transcript

 SUMMARY KEYWORDS
darkness, winter solstice, shift, Barbara Brown Taylor, friluftsliv 

Dominic Kaiser  00:06

Welcome to The Contemplative Life: Three pastors, friends and spiritual companions help us explore spirituality through a contemplative lens.

I'm Christina Roberts.
I'm Chris Roberts.
I'm Kristina Kaiser. We're glad you joined us. 

Christina Roberts  00:24

Hello, it is great to be with you. If you are listening in real time, today is the winter solstice, or also known as the longest night of the year. And I have to say that this day never really registered for me until recent years. So perhaps it's because I now live in the northern part of the United States and winters take on a new meaning. Maybe it's because I'm more aware that the sun sets earlier when I'm driving my kids home from an after-school event. Or maybe it's just that I found myself mindful of people experiencing homelessness, living on the streets, and this thought of the longest night for them. So my guess is that it's probably a combination of all those things that has heightened my awareness and interest in learning more about the winter solstice and the spiritual lessons from winter. 

The Latin word Solstice is made of two words, “sol”, which means sun and “stice”, which means to stand still. So the winter solstice is one of the most powerful points of the year because the axis of the Earth pauses, shifts and moves in the opposite direction. And you know, I'm sure I learned that in like third grade science class or something like that. But thinking about that from a contemplative lens, it is an amazing thing that our Earth is literally shifting and turning and saying, We are changing directions right now.  And there is a shift happening. And I think about the energy that it brings and what that means for life on planet Earth as we know it. And so today, I'd like to talk a little bit about what are some lessons and things that we can learn from the invitations of the winter solstice?

Kristina Kaiser  01:53

I am so intrigued by this notion of the pause and the shift. And, I've even thought about it, I was probably thinking about it a whole month ago because we've been going outside and we've been working outdoors every single Saturday. And some of our kids were kind of like, When is this going to stop? And actually, it does. It has a natural pause, because it's gonna get cold and the snow is going to come and we're not going to be able to do any of this. So in knowing that I was taking it in even more. But I've also looked forward to the idea that we're going to shift and there's going to be this experience of sitting curled up on the couch with warm beverages and lighting candles and all these things. So I love that notion of this stop and turn.

Chris Roberts  02:41

Yeah, I think I might be a little bit different. I take a little different direction.  One of the things that I've tried to incorporate into my life is an attitude that winters are awesome. They're just fantastic. And so we bundle up, we get outdoors. One of the things that is interesting to me is the whole darkness factor. It's dark a lot longer. One of the things that we experimented with a few years ago was going on what we called on midnight hikes. It was nowhere near midnight, because our children have to be in bed by a certain time, but we call them these midnight hikes. And we would go through the woods in darkness. And of course, we would take our flashlights, just in case, but one of the things that we tried to do is we tried to go without using our flashlights and enjoy ourselves. Enjoy the darkness. And I, you know, I think something that I find interesting is my six year old now is scared of the woods in the dark. Like that's this thing with his older siblings.  What was once something that was joyful, he couldn't wait to go on our midnight hike is now tainted. With teenagers, whenever they see the woods, it elicits horror and fright and they want to draw out those emotions. And so I'm currently in the process of trying to reframe, reintroduce darkness from a positive standpoint.  Let's go on a positive hike where the darkness is a friend to us. It could be something that brings joy into our lives. So that's one thing that comes up for me as I think about winter solstice is the darkness, how it's darker for longer periods of time. And how can we lean into that? How can we enjoy that?

Christina Roberts  04:34

Yeah, there's a wonderful book by Barbara Brown Taylor called Learning to Walk in the Dark. She explores this idea and how there are things that we can only learn in the dark that we cannot learn in the light. And she does a beautiful job of giving multiple examples of different aspects of darkness. And she said even in the Easter story, the resurrection of Jesus did not happen in a sunshiny place. It happened in a dark, damp cave; that’s where a resurrection took place. Or a child being formed in the womb, it is a dark space where life is forming . A lot of times we're missing out on the fact that actually it's in the darkness, a seed falls into the ground and it's in that place that new life emerges. And so there's something very meaningful and important about dark. And yet I think our culture is like your point, Chris, we either horrify it, or we try to avoid it, because it seems scary or painful. But I think she's eliciting this idea that no, there's actual beauty. And there's something sacred about these “dark places” that we experience.

Kristina Kaiser  05:32

That makes a lot of sense. And even as everyone's talking, it's reminding me of sort of a need to know what to do with darkness, if you will. So even as you're talking about going on midnight hikes, I'm realizing, oh, you know, when I was a kid, how much winter gear we had was a variable. And so you have to have the resources in a way in order to be able to do some of it. And this has made me not so great. In my adult life, apparently, you can get these materials.  My daughter was invited to do a parade on a Thursday night near the end of November and they were like, bring your hand warmers, and your foot warmers and warm socks. And I was thinking, Where does one get warm socks? Like I don't even know where you go to buy these things. And so this is a whole question. Do you have the resources that you need, in order to embrace the darkness, the cold, whatever it is?

Christina Roberts  06:31

I think that's important. I have been companioning for a few years with a doctor who does medicine on the streets. And so she works with the homeless population. And of course, in the winter time, this is a big deal and eliciting donations for these thick, warm socks that you're talking about if you're on the streets and living there. And what does it mean, as it is darker earlier, depression rates rise, and the need for more mental health and resources and things like that becomes very real. And I think that's something that I've definitely been more attuned to living here in the northern part of the United States is the reality that seasonal depression is a thing. Growing up, I never heard those terminologies and that reality, or the need for vitamin D, things like that. And so I think that, there's this natural, when you look at the Earth, like I mentioned, bears hibernate in the winter. So there's sort of this invitation for deeper, longer stretches of rest. So I think sometimes the darkness invites us into this deeper replenishment that we otherwise just don't do in those months. And I think to counter your point, when the days are longer, we tend to be more productive and harvest and things like that. And I wonder too, about the kind of those internal spaces of darkness that can feel scary. And I think the reason these midnight hikes work is because we're doing it as a community. And so even in these sort of encampment areas with these homeless folks that she's working with.  I have a friend over there. And so she's like, it's beautiful to watch, when someone does get some sort of a resource, a hot cup of coffee, or whatever, how they're sharing it with others and sort of make-shifting what they need to do in this community to survive together. And so I wonder, too, if darkness kind of draws us into our need and being creative about how to pack together and form to keep warm, both internally and externally. 

Kristina Kaiser  08:11

I like what you're saying. And I also think what's coming to mind is we sometimes pack these winter months with a lot of stuff as opposed to rest. Because school is in session. And we already know from a social standpoint people might not be on vacations or something as much. And so there might be more meetings, conferences, etc, which can really wear a person out. I remember when our oldest was really little, I had this weird point  when it got to be towards the end of winter, probably February ish. But by the end of the day, I would just feel so exhausted, and we'd be trying to read on the couch, and I would be throwing my head back onto the couch. I just couldn't do it. So probably there was some sort of a deficiency there. And I didn't know how to name it. And so to your point about rest, can we take that into ourselves, right and say, How can I really nourish this natural rhythm that's, it's here, it's designed, it's built in. But we can also totally miss it all the way.

Chris Roberts  09:16

I like what we're saying about the winter being a time to take opportunities to rest. But one of the things that comes up for me is there's so much beauty to be found out in nature during winter time. Scandinavian culture has this word called friluftslivwhich is this concept of getting out in nature. One of the things that they say is there's no bad weather, there's only bad clothing. And it's kind of helped me with this sort of positive attitude or positive outlook towards being outdoors in the winter months. And I mean, there's nothing like when the sun is setting and it's just sort of hitting the snow just right And the colors that burst from the whiteness. And, you know, the same could be said for sunrises in winter. And there's so much beauty to be found outdoors during the winter time. And, you know, this positive attitude of being out in nature, being outdoors, even in the dark hours is something that I find that rejuvenates me, rejuvenates life, and it's life giving to me. So I really like that part of the colder months and the darker months.

Christina Roberts  10:33

And I remember somebody making a comment once about the snow and saying, Oh, we're going to have a green spring because of how much snow that we've gotten that is soaking the ground. And again, that never dawned on me. But it's like, oh, yeah, when this snow melts it waters the Earth.   There is the ability to really soak and go deep that is different than just a rainfall that happens. And so even this idea of what does it mean to soak in the winter months, and whatever we're into to immerse ourselves whether it's reading books, or doing an art craft, or music or things like that. Could this be an opportunity for that deeper soaking?  I think our natural rhythms are slowing down. Of course, we have modern technology and electricity and all the things that would allow us otherwise. But if we kind of lean into those natural spaces, there does seem to be more of that rhythm of soaking as well, which I find fascinating that winter invites us into.

Kristina Kaiser  11:23

It is fascinating because it gets brutally cold. And you would think that should kill everything, right? That should be the end of all, but it doesn't. Every single summer this beautiful, luscious, crazy growth comes up. And it really is a remarkable increase to your point.  When we first moved back, I noticed how people really value pine trees around here. And I thought how odd all this love of pine trees is. Because I used to mow lawns, they're scratchy when you get all up next to them and they can really mess up your skin. And then the winter happened. And suddenly, it was the only green available, right? Because everything is so white. And if you have a white house that is also white. But there was this greenery and it glistened, even in the night, how the snow would be on it. So I started to understand why people value pine trees.

Christina Roberts  12:28

Now obviously, we're talking here from again, the northern part of the United States and recognizing that there are people that live in California or Florida or Texas, places that do not experience the same things that we're describing. And so I think just acknowledging, of course, the winter solstice might mean something different for you, because you don't have, you know, we're fortunate enough to have the natural elements sort of echoing this invitation of the shift in that pause and the turning. But I think in general, there is something to be said about this sort of the natural way that the earth is designed. That twice a year there is the longest night and the longest day that seems to be shifting us into different energy spaces, etc. So whether you are in the brisk, cold weather of Wisconsin, as the three of us are, or in sunny somewhere today listening, we hope that you find this conversation helpful as we think about lessons from the winter solstice. So thanks for this conversation.

Christina Roberts  13:24

This is the time of our podcast, where we talk about what we are into this week.  What are we into?

Chris Roberts  13:30

We've had a longer fall than we normally have. It hasn't even gotten below freezing until here recently, and only like, right at the border. And so we've had a lot longer fall, the leaves are falling. Right now, they haven't even all fallen, which is typically we've already had, you know, three weeks of no leaves on the trees. But for some reason, I've been discovering mushrooms everywhere. And we've been going on these walks and there's mushrooms growing on the trees, there's mushrooms growing in the grass and all the lawns. Lawns that people don't want mushrooms, right? They manicure these lawns and there's these mushrooms that are growing up. And I found that our lawn has a huge variety of mushrooms. And so I've actually been googling different types of mushrooms. I get ill when I eat mushrooms but I have this idea that you know every seven years your taste buds change. And so I'm hoping that in seven years my taste buds will change and that the physical illness that I get whenever I eat mushrooms will be a thing of the past. And that I can explore all these wonderful, natural mushrooms that grow and be fortunate enough to eat some that are not poisonous. So I have been into mushrooms.

Kristina Kaiser  14:56

You know you can give all your mushrooms to me because they are my favorite. I love mushrooms. I have been into these beautiful crescent moons the last couple of nights. So it's dark out earlier as we're talking about and I have to take our oldest to dance after dinner.  So I've had this chance to go out and for whatever reason it is so bright white and so crystal clear and just this beautiful defined crescent. And I've been taking that moment to take as much of it in because you know, the Moon is always changing. It will not be the same a couple days later.

Christina Roberts  15:34

Well I am into winter fashion. So I love wearing hats and chunky sweaters and all the things.  My kids the other day they're like, Oh Mom, that's a mom wrap. And I was like What's a mom wrap?  That sweater you're wearing mom. Do they like to wrap it around them to cover up? I was like, You know what, I embrace the mom wraps. Love it. They are my favorite thing. So I am evidently into having mom wraps. 

Well, thanks so much for joining us today. We would love to invite you not only to listen to the podcast, but we have a newsletter that comes out every other week with little helpful insights and tips around contemplative living. So if you are interested in that we will have a link in our show notes. As well as you can go to contemplativelife.net and we would love to have you sign up there. Until next time, make it a great week.