Nature's Changes and Natures of Change

Without warning, it seems, winter has arrived.   Felt my first snowflake of the season yesterday.   For me, that's good news.  I've always found the first snow to be a little thrilling and it always brings with it a happy, surreal hopefulness.

Seems like we were just fanning ourselves against the heat and now we're eagerly reaching for coats, gloves and hats just to feel that warmth again.   The seasonal changes affect us all a little differently but there is one commonality we can't avoid:  When nature transitions, so do we, whether we want to or not.  And it got me thinking about the nature of change and why we try so hard to resist it.

It's an easy delusion to fall into to think we can control our world with our modern conveniences of artificial lightening, air conditioning and heating.    We don't have to change what we wear, or what we do.   We can stave off the night by turning on flood lights and continue wearing t-shirts in December and our favorite sweaters in June if we really want to.  We reason, if our environment is the same, then everything in it can remain the same and we don't have to look at our issues, make real decisions or, gasp! change!  We like it that way - nice and tidy - and everything humming along at the same pace all the time.  Change is scary, after all.  And we had enough of that with that spooky October holiday.

Whether we want to admit it or not and no matter how desperately we try to preserve the status quo, there is no denying the reality check that first cold burst of air delivers, squarely knocking the delusion right out of our head.  Nature smacks us upside the head with the icy cold blast, "Hey! Wake up! Pay attention!  Something's gotta change!  What are you gonna do about it?  You can't just sit there pretending it's not there and freeze, after all!"  And we grudgingly go get our coats and mumble about how cold it is, completely forgetting the same mumbling we did back in July that we now seem to be longing for.  But it is neither the heat nor the cold we really object to.

If we are willing to be truly honest with ourselves, we recognize that transition is all there is. There's no getting around it.  We can't stop the changes in our lives any more than we can stop the leaves from falling and the cold wind from blowing.   But we can decide that it's not a threat and choose to see it as an opportunity to discover new paths we'd never considered.

Winter, by its very nature, is a period of slowing down.  Trees go dormant and animals hibernate, preserving their strength for the spring.  Even the days don't work as hard, providing less hours of sunshine than they do the rest of the year.  We often forget that we're part of that natural environment, too.  Maybe we should take the hint and stop pushing so hard to maintain the "sameness" of our lives.  Maybe a chilly cold blast of the first snow or a snowflake on our tongue is what we need as a reminder that we are not isolated from the patterns of nature as we might like to think and embrace the opportunity to put on the brakes a little bit - and see what kind of chilly inspiration and insight we might find if we can just stop resisting transition for a little while.

When the cold wind blows, maybe we can greet it with delight, instead, and the thrill of knowing it brings with it the promise of new springs - if we're willing to let it.