Monday 20 May 2013

Nah, take a Coldral


Winters coming. A few years back we decided to ‘obey’ nature and hunker down, sit by the fire and take a 2 week holiday at mid -winter. This was in response to getting sick every winter, dragging ourselves through the days, feeling lethargic. One day we realized it wasn’t some moral turpitude and laziness that caused the yearly malaise; it was winter and we were connected to it. Winter is a good time to do inside things. It gives time to reflect; to become conscious. You can gather quite a lot of energy over winter, and by the time spring comes you are ready to move. In our ancestral selves this would have meant prepare gardens etc.
I do remember those years when we slowed everything down; we didn’t get sick or depressed. We sat by the fire, played games,read books, went for walks.
Our society makes no mention of winter in the psychological/spiritual/physiological sense. Inside us, we are connected to this world. That’s why we slow down in winter, it’s why we don’t want to get up in the mornings. If we ‘obey’ nature-ie stop the pretence that we are above it and take a Coldral and soldier on.
 If only our work practices allowed for this we would make massive savings nationally.Even if we all took a holiday for 2 weeks there would be no noticeable effect on GDP and productivity. There would be less colds and flu which attach themselves to a weakened host. In fact there could be a rise in every health indicator as people would feel better having rested with family or in nature, travelling  and so on. I propose calling this time of year Winterswait.
It will become a cultural habit like siesta-it works when everyone does it.

1 comment:

  1. or what about Winterswell? We live similarly and feel much better for it, too!

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