The Quiet of Winter

The quiet of winter at first can be unsettling. Nothing is happening. No great ideas, no productive breakthrough. Winter is winter. There is stillness.

We can stay busy during this time and pretend winter is just another season. Or we can listen to the sound of winter. Nature undressed is bare, empty, naked, no bursts of growth, only a supreme quietude. Plants, trees, even animals are more still, as if taking a much deserved pause.

Can we give ourselves permission to stop and simply be? Can we slow down, breathe the cold air and enjoy warm clothes, the human warmth in our lives?

There is a soundlessness that brings us closer to our core, a stillness snuggled in our heart. Winter's silence is God emptied of Him and Herself.

In our solitude we rediscover our essential wholeness. We are whole no matter how productive, busy, resourceful we are. Winter's silence brings us to the inner quiet that speaks beyond normal words. There is presence here. The presence underneath daily life is winter's domain.

Winter offers its own beauty. The fear that keeps driving us to want and need something more is replaced with an inner landscape of whiteness, calm. Frozen in the moment, our heart beats warmly. If we take the time to feel inside, there is a vastness. Our awareness, not as busy as usual with life's details, spreads to a boundary without borders. Winter is reminding us of how much we are, body and soul.

Winter is nothing more or less then perfect humility pulling us back to our essence, each to our own poetry.

Brought back to the basics, we stay warm, nourished in the good company of family and friends. The quiet we share reconnects hearts and most important reconnects us. Our nerves are rewired along with our thoughts. In the soil of our divine humanness, there are seeds that soon will begin to grow in rhythm with the days becoming longer and nights shorter.

Winter is nature's way of meditation. We all are invited to unplug, simplify, receive the simple peace. When we are with the pulse of winter, the silence and body of life reorganize, realign. Winter's grand portrait is shouting for our recognition. As we look closely into winter's heart and listen, new purpose and meaning appear in front and within us.

We invite you to join us in winter's gift at Silent Stay Retreat Home & Hermitage near Napa, California and Assisi, Italy.