Old, Mighty Pine
Yes. Silence. Again. Still.
Just five weeks into winter and in mild, almost spring-like weather, I continue to be drawn to winter’s ways. Slow movement. No movement. Rest. Quiet. Reading. Sauntering. Thinking and inviting my thoughts to silence. Reflecting. Observing. Wondering …
Today I’m drawn back to David Whyte’s poem, The Winter of Listening, and especially to his commentary about it. … A time when to name anything would be to give it the wrong name, most especially refusing to name ourselves, a radical sense of letting ourselves alone, without even the most subtle, internal self-bullying or coercion…
As I read the poem again, I’m drawn to these verses …
All this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.
What is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.
What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
into the lit angel
we desire,
what disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need. (excerpt from The Winter of Listening in David Whyte: Essentials)
My worry – or is it ‘worry’ or something to which ascribing another name may be more true? Concern? Care? Grievance that wants to be grieved? Despair? Denial? I chuckle as I attempt to name something that doesn’t want to be named, thinking that naming is a way of understanding and putting this puzzle piece in its right place.
I’m present to my subtle self-coercion to maintain consistency, remembering that I do love this process, even when I struggle with getting to what wants to be said. Even when events seem beyond my comprehension. That too is worthy of my awareness. Perhaps some things are meant to live beyond our comprehension, merely inviting us to accept that they are what they are (whether we like them, and especially when we don’t). Winter’s ways nourish that.
Then, after our listening within, we know how and when to act. And, nourished, we are able to follow that guidance.
Today marks the first new moon of 2025, a good time to review intentions and to set new ones. What to I intend in this time? Today is also the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Wood Snake, which in 2025 represents wisdom, transformation, and personal growth, with the Wood element adding flexibility and renewal. It is also said that the year emphasizes shedding negativity and embracing change. What do I need to shed? What changes long to be embraced as intention and acted upon? The Wood Snake is associated with intelligence, perseverance, and strategy, making 2025 a year of significant opportunities.
In the silence, let us weave and tap into that!
The Ziggurat on a Colorado BlueSky Day