This year, late winter happens to line up with the Catholic holiday of Lent and the Islamic holiday of Ramadan (which is aligned to a lunar calendar, so it begins on a different date each year). Both practices symbolize spiritual purification and self-discipline, which align with the season on Imbolc in the Year of the Wheel.
In both Ramadan and Lent, adherents abstain from worldly pleasures with the goal of building empathy for the poor, increasing gratitude, and focusing on devotion and community. Regardless of your religion, let the season of late winter just before spring inspire cultivating these universal virtues.
This gratitude meditation helps cultivate this quality into your life. A regular practice of gratitude helps the well being of your mind, emotions, and body:
- Mind: Decreases anxiety and depression while boosting dopamine (reward chemical) and serotonin (feel-good chemical), creating a more content mindset
- Emotions: Increases emotional resilience, a more positive perspective, and the ability to recover from stressful situations, plus cultivates empathy
- Body: Lowers blood pressure, improves sleep quality, strengthens your immune system, reduces stress hormones, and reduces the severity and frequency of pains
Pair this meditation after this season’s Sadhana practice or try it on its own. If you’d like to go deeper, try hypnotherapy to let go of suppressed emotions and trauma to start your year fresh.
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Go on, be cliche. Don’t wait for the storm to pass your one precious life; learn to dance in the rain.
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