In the threshold between our earth’s seasons, we gather the gifts of what is and has been while moving with the momentum of change. Each step we take, every choice we make, each thought we think and word that we speak, shapes what’s coming alive in our inner landscapes and the outer world.

When wintertime settles into the red rock mesas of northern New Mexico, the blue skies grow still after geese and sandhill cranes fly by boisterously celebrating their migrations south. I rarely cross paths with coyotes and rabbits, though their tracks may be found in the snow, mud, and sandy soil. There’s a hush among the lavender once the hum of bumblebees fades. Prickly pear cactus simply hold their ground, no new fruits or pods or blossoms, no visible signs of growth since the frosts.

The quieting on the land and shortened hours of daylight bring my winter homing instincts into full bloom. Be home by dark. Settle in and embrace the quiet. Focus inwardly, like the trees, toward the core of my being and my roots.

Jasmine, my beloved canine friend, blends her wild romps on the mesas with long hours sleeping on the land. Luxuriously stretched out in the warmth of the sun, her nose touches the ground as she breathes in the earth. The winter ways of the canines reveal the extraordinary that exists in the ordinary moments of life. Like taking a nap.

Deep inside stillness we discover the rhythms of our hearts. Breathing in the earth and soaking up the sun intimately connect us with our planet and our star, with their healing medicines and the knowledge they’ve gathered up through vast passages of space and time. It’s all there in the soil and the sunbeams.

Jasmine breathes this in and soaks it all up. A wide-open welcoming of the gifts being shared. A grateful giving back with her comfort and contentment. The lushness of the sharing between canine, earth and sun shows me what it’s like to generously give and warmly receive the extraordinary gifts of life – in ordinary everyday moments, with each and every breath that I take.

The songbirds enchant the winter season with their ingenious feasting dance. Bouncing around on golden tufts of dried flowers, the petite winged ones jostle the delicate stalks and blossoms until the ground is peppered with tiny morsels. Hopping to the ground, the birds chirp with delight while gathering the delectable seeds one by one.

Nourishment showers the earth when songbirds shake down the seeds. A universe of potentials is held in the body of each tiny seed. Inside the seed is a living matrix of what is and has been, and an instinctive knowing of when and how and what and who may be. The seeds eaten by the birds and those left resting on the earth nourish life with the sacred promise of generations to come.

Winter offers initiations into new cycles, a passage into stillness that feeds the birthings of spring, a readying for the awakenings to come. In this time on the earth filled with callings for change, I hear the whispers as I walk about the land. Nestle in the stillness. Breath in the earth. Soak up the sun. Shake down the seeds.

There’s an irresistible calling to join up in this sharing with our sun and our earth, with the shifting of the seasons, with the plants, four-leggeds, and winged ones. Nestle in the stillness. Breath in the earth. Soak up the sun. Shake down the seeds.

If we seek it, we will find it for it too is seeking us – the exquisite dance of life we’re naturally a part of. The vibration of ancient rhythms will be carried up along our roots. We’ll feel the hum and soon find ourselves humming along, sharing our voice, finding our rhythm, dancing on rich fertile ground.

Nestling in the Stillness.

Breathing in the Earth.

Soaking up the Sun.

Shaking down the Seeds.

Nestling in the Stillness.

Breathing in the Earth.

Soaking up the Sun.

Shaking down the Seeds.