Art; watercolour & ink, by Diana Green, artist and author.
Copyright Diana Green 2020.
As the leaves of Autumn die, Winter approaches.
With faded sun, muted colour in shades of greys, blacks, charcoals, browns and ebony emerge in monochromatic balance. Cool mossy greens and pale blues dance in water reflection. A diffused palette.
Winter slowly revealed in its silence.
When the trees are leafless the absence of life pervades and empties all that seemed familiar. A time of stillness, a clearing for a journey into an unknown.
Stop, go within to wrestle with the silence and make peace between the hectic and simplicity of what is taking place. Then sleep, into deep dreamless sleep.
It is here in Winter as humans, that one has the privilege to sit, stop and reflect without excuse. Movement slows as the cold seeps in. We heat our houses. Slowly cooking turns food into energy. Rug up to be in nature, into the elements at work.
Cooler weather shows up unannounced. Whilst the expectations of society aims to nudge one to be in continuous movement, Winter is not a time for that movement. It is preparation time to nurture ones ideas, ones life, ones possibilities. A period of the unseen, deep slow growth where mother nature takes shape to nurture.
The symbolism of the season; A journey to slow down into deep inner reflection. A recount allowing for transformation to emerge. A waiting, a space for the new not yet conceived, in dormant preparation to take form as life and action. This is the season we allow ourself to die in the arms of life.
A season of the Profound; The universe is in motion. In the depth of contemplation we discover without thought, in mindlessness, there is nothing to do, nothing to fix but sit in the silence. Empty space that is full.
Finally, even Winter wakes up to Life; We notice from the inside out and we begin to take new form in the knowing something has shifted, even if it not articulated. New shoots emerge and poke through into life. Oh yes, it is the awakening into the sounds of Spring, fragrances and colours announce an emergence from Winter, Spring is on its way.
How do you use the messages that Winter offers? What did the silence of Winter reveal to you?
Winter stillness is the opportunity for inner trust, natural processes to form. Only then will we know what has transformed as it occurs into Spring.
A natural way to live. Did time sit still in empty reflection this Winter? For Tim, in memory of his friend Yumi Goto, March 2018.