How to Make Winter a Time of Rest and Renewal
Steps to help you embrace winter as gift
Winter is a difficult time for many people. The cold, the dreary days of rain or snow, the lack of light, the colds and flu, being cooped up indoors — these are all things that can make winter a miserable time.
What if with a few tweaks to your home, your activities and your outlook you could begin to embrace winter, and possibly even learn to love it?
Cultures that deal with long dark winters have a thing or two to teach us about embracing winter. The Danish word hygge (pronounced “hoo-ga”) has recently become a buzz word for all things cozy and comforting. The word is hard to translate literally, but it speaks of coziness, contentment and well-being. A sense that life is good, and meant to be enjoyed.
The Danes consistently rank at the top of the happiness scale. One of the reasons is that hygge overlays their days like a warm, comfy throw. They have learned how to celebrate winter and make it a lovely time of warmth, fellowship, comfort and enjoyment. We could take a page from their book and learn to do the same.
The idea of embracing winter has to start with allowing winter to embrace us. We tend to focus on the gloomy aspects of winter and longingly wait for summer to return — the time of…
