For many people winter is long, cold and isolating.
Many suffer from seasonal depression caused by the long dark days of winter. Many struggle with the lack of friends or family support during the holidays.
This kind of cold makes us hunker down in our homes curled tightly in a “protect me” position. We try to protect our hearts.
It is human nature during any type of cold to do this, not just winter. The feelings of cold and isolation can strike at any time. Anger, rejection, betrayal, grief, fear and depression all create feelings of cold and isolation.
Have you noticed when we receive difficult news or tragedy hits, we instantly reach for our heart, pull our shoulders inward, curl our back forward and sometimes even drop to the floor?
This circles our heart in protection. We want to enclose ourselves in a cocoon so that the cold and pain cannot reach us.
The tight “protect me” pose closes our body posture in a way that tightens around our heart secluding it from others. Secluding us from others. We feel cold and isolated from everyone as if we are alone in a frigid storm just trying to survive.
When the end of winter is in sight or the journey through a life challenge becomes easier, we see the sun fill our lives once again. The days become longer and brighter. We become lighter.
As the warmth rejuvenates us, we stand up taller in a happier, open stance. Our back straightens and our hands reach away from our hearts opening our chests to breathe again.
This strengthens and stretches our lives in a more openhearted way, allowing love to flow through our hearts freely once again. We break out of our cocoons to feel the sun, leave the isolation and open our hearts to others.
This openheartedness creates a glow that not only warms us, but everyone we interact with. By pulling back the layers that protected us from the cold, like Superman pulling back his shirt, we reveal our hearts and come alive once again.
Does this cycle sound familiar to you? Do you see it in yourself? Do you see it in others?
A little introspective time alone to regroup and analyze our life isn’t always a bad thing. But when the cold feels too lonely and the isolation becomes too deep ask for help. Never be afraid to ask for help. Invite a friend or family member to listen to your fears and concerns.
If you see a friend or family member cocooning too deeply, knock on their door, call their phone, or reach out to check on them. A small gesture can offer hope that they desperately need.
Ask for help when you need it, offer hope when it’s needed. Let me say that again, ask for help when you need it, offer hope when it’s needed.
Pay attention to how and when you curl into the “protect me” position. Pay attention to how and when you break free of your cocoon to spread your butterfly wings for all to see. There is a time for both.
Power comes with knowing when to safely curl and when to fly. The real power comes from knowing when you need help and when you need to offer hope.
Pennie’s Life Lesson: Ask for help when you need it, offer hope when it’s needed.
