It was the Christmas tree outside the Booths supermarket that triggered the thoughts…

Now pale against the bright January sun and the crisp cold, its icy beauty was somehow less than the real thing, a warming image of a Christmas now gone and packed up into the storage boxes under the eaves.

Ahead of me, the Kendal district of Fellside climbed up in the direction of Lake Windermere; bright, cold and tree-lined.

January is a challenging time, but the start of three months that give us the freedom to ‘get our house in order’ before the energy of the spring drops gently on us from an unseen, brighter sky.

How we greet that renewed energy is up to us. The quieter months of being indoors, being in the darkness, having time to contemplate, enjoying the crispness, warming ourselves by the log-burner… all go to make up a time of inner preparation.

March will be on us, soon enough. With its ‘mad Mars’ energy. Then will will need to look to our little, cleaned-out store of resolve and see, like the surfer, if we still have the skills to climb on that wave and surf the joy of life.

I speak metaphorically, of course. I’ve never climbed up on a surfboard, though I greatly admire those who can…

Happy January! Seize the cold, seize the spaces between the heartbeats. Align yourself with yourself. There is only the world you live in… the rest is supposition!

And if it snows, enjoy it like a child…

©Stephen Tanham 2022

Stephen Tanham is a Director of the Silent Eye, a journey through the forest of personality to the dawn of Being.

http://www.thesilenteye.co.uk and http://www.suningemini.blog