Wild Geese

It is less than a week before Christmas and it is that time of year when we are pulled in so many directions.  For some of us we feel the frenzy of gift buying and getting ready to host.  For others of us we feel a sense of dread or loneliness as the holidays approach.  We may grieve someone who is no longer with us or the relationship we wish we could have with someone.  

Amidst the holiday bustle and emotional charge of this week, we also experience the winter solstice.  The time of year when we experience the longest night and the shortest day.  Nature is telling us to go inward and that can be a hard ask for us culturally, especially this time of year.  It is that tug in both directions perhaps that can be confusing and dysregulating.  

While we experience all of those highs and lows that come with this time of year, remember to step outside at least for a few minutes this week to enjoy the cold, crisp air and drink in the rich inky black night of the sky.  And from my favorite poem, remember your place in the family of things.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, 

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting

over and over again announcing your place

in the family of things.

-Mary Oliver

Love and peace to you,

Cassie