The concept of Wintering engages with the idea that life has a variety of metaphorical seasons, as well as literal ones, and invites us to consider how we might find hope and light in the colder, more difficult seasons of life so that we might Winter well.
“Wisdom comes with winters.” Oscar Wilde
When the Pevensie children discover the land of Narnia, they find a world in which it is always Winter and never Christmas, but Mr Beaver reassures them that there is hope for change.
Danny explores some lessons that nature teaches us of how to survive and thrive in Winter, raising questions of how we nurture our 'roots' and recognise what these difficult seasons bring to the surface in us.
"Wintering is a season in the cold. It is a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, side-lined, blocked from progress, or cast into the role of an outsider.
...However it arrives, wintering is usually involuntary, lonely, and deeply painful. Yet it’s also inevitable. We like to imagine that it’s possible for life to be one eternal summer and that we have uniquely failed to achieve that for ourselves. We dream of an equatorial habitat, forever close to the sun, an endless, unvarying high season. But life’s not like that." Katherine May
The movie, Inside Out, shows the emotions of the protaganist, Riley, as the characters Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear and Sadness. Joy loves to take over the controls of Riley's emotions, but learns that in some seasons of life, Sadness has an important role to play.
Danny reflects on an early Winter season of his life and how his personality was shaped by the way he processed the emotions of that time.
"Unfortunately, I've seen Winter seasons as something to avoid and escape, and I've done my best to do so, but Winter can't be avoided and so we need to embrace what our Winters offer, as painful as that can be."
The Winters of our life offer us the chance to rest, refuel and relinquish what we need to from past seasons, so that we're ready for the seasons to come.
In a fascinating paradox, caterpillars have everything they need to become a butterfly and yet they aren’t a butterfly until they’ve gone through the process of metamorphosis.
Danny explores how Wintering might be the process required to release the potential that is in each of us.
"Maybe Winter offers us a chance to stop and imagine what could be, looking beyond the things we see to embrace a new reality."
"Here is another truth about wintering: you’ll find wisdom in your Winter, and once it’s over, it’s your responsibility to pass it on. In return, it’s our responsibility to listen to those who have wintered before us. It’s an exchange of gifts in which nobody loses out" Katherine May
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