When the weather outside gets frightful… how do you get into your ZEN space?

While we know we’re very fortunate here in Los Angeles to not have blizzards like other parts of the world, we do get Winter weather and just like for everyone else, Winter is a time of reflection.

Bears hibernate and so do people. The weather outside may not always be inviting, but finding your ZEN space INDOORS can be just as enlightening as finding your ZEN space in a Winter Wonderland.

You’ve probably heard of the saying – “Looking from the outside In.” And the holidays are the perfect time to do this. You will end up rediscovering yourself from the ‘inside-out’ by doing this.

When we watch holiday programming, we often see that ‘magical’ energy in old movies and TV commercials. This feeling may feel good as you watch it, but it can also be depressing.

For those who are alone, for those who have lost loved ones and for those who experience depression and anxiety when the holidays roll around, having the ‘holiday spirit’ can be a bit of bah-humbug time, because the holidays represent pain.

If we take the time to break away from the material and get into the spiritual part of the season, we will see that the Winter blues and blahs are sometimes a very necessary thing to experience.

It is almost a permissible time to finally be ‘too busy’ to get together and ‘too busy’ to attend a cheerful party when staying at home and cocooning is a therapeutic, reflective, emotionally fulfilling time. This time allows us to grieve, feel, shed some baggage, a layer of heaviness that we’ve been carrying around all year when it was sunnier and there was no excuse for not being out-and-about.

This time also enables us to begin anew and start the New Year fresh, healthier, happier and complete because we had this ‘time’ to do what we needed to do when the rest of the world did not allow us to do this at other times of the year.

Winter Zen is a gift in itself. Aside from the emotional and spiritual reflection, we have the key opportunity to dissolve and resolve other ‘obstacles’ in our life. This can mean everything from doing charity work and cleaning out a closet to help us grow as people – and overcome the idea that we can’t learn new things or evolve or make a difference. The truth is WE CAN and the more we do this, the more we understand ourselves and our world.

Winter Zen also helps us get in touch with our senses. The sense of smell is evoked with everything from fresh pine and spruce to holiday meals and spicy baked goods, aromatic candles, wood-burning fireplaces and roasted chestnuts.

The sense of sight is enhanced by bright lights, changing weather and crowds of people where we can people watch all day long.

The sense of sound can be heard from the chatter of children, the clanging of wine glasses and Salvation Army bells, holiday songs and even impatient traffic horns.

The sense of touch can be felt from hugs from loved ones, the Wintery chill at the tip of our nose to the softness of cozy blankets and coats.

And the sense of taste is heightened with the crispness of potato latkes, the spice of a cider or the burst of a peppermint candy cane.

Winter Zen allows us to reflect upon a year gone by, relationships made, blessings which have been bestowed upon us and the kindness of strangers.

It also gives us the opportunity to give thanks to all those who have been there for us as well as the good fortune we have in being alive, having survived another year through challenge and hardship …. Enduring it all and still having someone we can call friend.

Happy Winter. Happy Zen.

Stacey Kumagai – Zen Goddess 9 Integrity & Wisdom and All Your Friends at Zen Evolution TV