The never ending winter… okay, maybe I am being slightly dramatic, as I have lived in Minnesota my entire life, and I can clearly recall chopping ice on the north side of my childhood home in June. It was a shaded area, actually, which did not get any sunlight, and it needed help turning into summer. I also remember having an inch of snow on the ground on my birthday in May, as I stubbornly pushed my buggy holding my new baby doll through that snow. And of course, my dad always told us not to even think for a minute that winter was done until we got through the boys high school basketball tournaments, which fall the last week of March.
And so I went to bed last night with a dire warning of a blizzard in the morning, and I woke up this morning seeing a beautiful snowfall with some visibility. (I can’t see the road, but I can still see the woods.) And I am reminded that I live in Minnesota to experience the four seasons of the year. Sigh.
I can actually handle winter better in March than I can in February. Even though we are going to experience some colder weather in the next couple days, if the sun comes out, which it does more frequently in March than February, it is noticeably warmer than in February. February is when I experience seasonal affective disorder. In March, I am shaking out of it.
A day like today, I say to myself, this, too, shall pass. And thank God for that. I put on a smiley face (you gotta fake it ’til you make it) and go out into the world reminding others that this is all temporary. Just as the good times go by so quickly, so, too, do the bad times. If we want to catagorize snowstorms as bad times. I know of a couple people who will be out riding their snowmobiles after work and school today. And I’ll be watching them on the trails tonight. Not everyone has to fake it in Minnesota.
Living in the moment means stopping ourselves from complaining long enough to say, well, it really IS pretty outside. And if I just enjoy THIS minute, and not think about how long it will last, I should be able to get through this next storm all right.
Today is a good day to practice a mantra and live in the moment. It’s the difficult days like these when we truly notice the improvement of our day by doing just that.
This, too, shall pass. And it is beautiful out there.
Peace!