Winter and Meeting Me

"Hope is easy and belief is simple in a warm green world. Winter is the time when man most needs the securities of unshaken certainty, whether it is the Winter of the soul or the harsh Winter of the year. I must know Winter if I am to know Spring and Summer. And here is Winter, with its own wondering and its quiet and its own discoveries, its solstice and its turn." -Hal Borland

Winter is a time of deep reflection for me. 

I should know better by now, still it happens again and again that I live life believing I finally know myself. And just as often, I come to a point where I realize that I am, in fact, still getting to know this person I call 'me.'  After all, there is a constant stream of new experiences, and who am I to think these challenges won't form and change me? It's a miraculous thing when you look back and realize that something painful has actually helped you grow and become a better person. 

But it's not just the heavy, cathartic things which form you. Small things, words, gestures, feelings, new approaches, inspirations, and little discoveries can open doors to parts of you which were hidden. Sometimes I find a blog, a book, a new friend, or turn a new corner in the woods, and I'm given the opportunity to find new things about me, and also about the world. 

"Is this good? Is this the right thing to say or do? Will this have the potential to heal, or to hurt?" These are the thoughts I am trying to pause and turn over in my head before speaking or taking action.

The other day, I asked my husband to tell me how he would describe me to someone who had never met me. He said many beautiful things, which made me smile, and also included some critical points, which was very important to me. I wanted to know what the person I love and respect most thought I could benefit from working on. Try it!

xoxo country girl