Mid-Winter Inspiration: Contentment, Hygge, and Memories

I am home for a short winter break and it is pouring down rain outside. It is the middle of January and the past few days have been oddly 60 degrees outside, bookended by three days of snow prior and wintery mix soon to come. 

I am so content. 

I have finally put my finger on the activities that replenish the life in my soul, that reshape how I approach my daily to-dos, and that are so heavy with their simple gravity that they ground me.

These things are reading a hardcover book, relaxed under a plush blanket with a cup of hot cocoa; knitting, while I listen to friends, chatter away about things that have happened and plan to happen while I have been & will be away, such as my childhood friend’s wedding plans… She is the first of my posse to be getting married you know, and of course, this is a momentous occasion for celebration, but I celebrate a little differently from the others in my flock. I sit quietly in the midst of the giggles and excitement with my sparkling juice and chocolate near at hand, needles flashing as strands of wound fibrous color flow into a tidy patch. I take my time and I take it in, smiling as my heart silently beats along, full and free and happy. 

What more could I want? 

The truth is that I don’t. 

All I want is to carve away sacred moments in time to do things that make me feel content with the way things are.

1. read three pages of a good old hardcover book before shutting off the lights, 
2. knit as my roommates tell me about their days, 
3. make cookies with my girlfriends while discussing the immortality of the soul,
4.  open and close each day with a prayer of gratitude. 

These moments of complete joy, not wanting more, simply happy with what is, this is what I want the moments of my life to be. Slow. Simple. Serene.

This is not to say that I never dance when nobody's watching, belt out a love ballad to empty air, or laugh until I wheeze. All of these things and more pepper my days with a flash of light, as enlivening as a warm spring breeze and bright as a hopeful promise. But what makes these moments so delightful is that they are seldom and they are short. If they stuck around too long they would be more like a hot and hazy summer day than a refreshing breeze. 

But these moments of quiet, of un-plug, of recreate, these things ought to happen over and over again, replenishing our strength and refueling our motivation. No one is able to run on empty, so why try? It’s like reaching the top of the mountain and finding that the view was not worth the climb. 

Why waste your time? 

Why not instead find that thing that makes you tick? Find the rhythm that you were made to dance to, the tempo that drives your soul? Find the answer to “Why the climb?”.

So find your climb, find your view, find your soul. 

Happy Living.

Love,

Laney