Seasonal Sedation

I used to associate Winter with Depression

and the more I feared the possibility of Depression

the more it seemed to get a hold of me

But, when I started to go out,
and to pay attention to the rest of nature

respond to the diminishing amount of light.

I saw animals making preparations

for those more sparse months

Scurrying-Squirrels stashing beech nuts

Jays hopping around the Oaks burying acorns

and watched the flora

shrinking away,

saving itself to unfurl with

the fresh new light of Spring.

And, I realised, that it is ok

to become a little more hibernative

Fern-like, and Squirrel-like

to cosy up, and get wrapped up

and reduce our level of activity

to become a little more stagnant

and use that harbour

to gestate new visions for the Spring

I think it is important

to give a nod of acknowledgement

to the change of seasons

seasons that we city-dwellers

can become detached from

as we glare at computer screens

and TV screens, and mobile phone screens

all these screens,

screening us from this other reality

that exists outside of pixel-land

and nature shows us how to do it

and we used to do it, and know it

when we were more pagan and less urban

and we have lost sight of what is natural in us

we have lost touch with our animal-selves

we have created expectations of our behaviour

that are not formed

by the stories of where we have come from

but are created out of the abstractions

of what we think we ought to be

of how we ought to perform

by work-ethics, and security-seeking

by money-making, and mortgage paying

by an idea of constancy and immutability

over and above being human

What I am saying is this:

it is OK to feel more sedate

as the light diminishes

but, if we call these seasonal feelings

depression

we call it unacceptable

like an expectant parent

disappointed at the child

who doesn't want to dance

the more we

use big meaningful words

to describe these changes,

the more significance

we give to something

that is entirely human and ordinary

we judge it

as inappropriate

and needing to be changed

as if measuring our performance

against the standard of

other-normal-humans

but

we are creatures

we are light-respondent creatures

give yourself a ritual

that is a celebration of the season past

toast all that you experienced

the ease and the difficulty

and turn to bow

to the season to come

and focus not on the loss

of what has been and gone

but, on

the unstoppable procession

the necessity of the passing

from resistance to embrace

that nothing is everlasting