Winter dream or happiness of the shipwrecked

In cultures of the temperate climate the weather and seasons have extreme importance. It is only natural, as humans, just like every other creature, are highly influenced by the temperature. When it’s warm they can work, and in the cold season they hibernate and regenerate. Some animals do actually hibernate. They sleep for weeks or months, their heart beat, breathing and metabolism slows down extremely. But even those who don’t do it, they slow down and do the minimum to keep themselves alive.

We humans can use this time to turn our attention inside, to our soul. We can slow down and understand what has been going on, as many of us have gone through a lot the previous year(s).

After a difficult time sometimes, regardless of the weather, all we need is a little “winter dream”. It is the literal translation of hibernation in some languages, as the word used for “dream” can simply mean the act of sleeping, but if we are searching for hidden meanings - and that’s what we do all the time - it tells us even more. This is the time to slow down, to just be. Not to do anything. We might think that after our great fights to get rid of all the circumstances that stopped us from living our lives, now that we can, we will jump into it and do it with full power.

It doesn’t work like that.

In order to begin something, the previous season has to come to an end. The point is not necessarily to understand every little detail about it, that will take years of hard work. What we need now is to rest. To relax. Something we didn’t do for years, when we were always working for approval. The pressure to always do everything perfectly is exhausting even when we don’t notice it. But over time, it takes its toll. We are tired continuously. We lose our spark. We don’t want to meet people who remind us of who we are. We don’t feel like doing anything, even the things we liked don’t seem to make us happy anymore. 

What we want now is just to lay down. To hibernate. To winter dream. And this is exactly what we need, for more than one reason.

Firstly, we need to respect our souls. If we feel tired, we must relax, as that’s our way to show respect to it. We need to accept that it has been a lot. We need this rest after all that stress. 

Secondly, if we urged ourselves into productivity right away, we would only continue to operate from pressure. What we need now is to learn self acceptance, self compassion. We need to slow down before being able to be productive, this time on our own way.

Until then, we first need to winter-dream, and then, we get to the point where we are simply happy that we survived.

Let’s imagine a ship that has sunk. Some people managed to hold onto some wooden pieces and after the storm was over, they landed on a desert island. What would they do? Build a colony, houses of palm trees and organise themselves, who’s cooking and who’s hunting? Sure. But not at first. At first, they just lay down on the shore, in the white sand, under the sun, and are just happy to be alive. Giuseppe Ungaretti, the famous Italian poet wrote a poem about this, its title is L’allegria dei naufragi, The happiness of the shipwrecked.

We need to lay down under the warm sun to relax before we can build our new life. We need to experience this calming, acceptive love before starting to do anything. We can provide it to ourselves. We need to learn to not to shame and hurry ourselves into productivity, to see that we are not what we do. We have to accept our present state, acknowledge it and honour it. This is where I am, this is what I can do now, nothing more. To relax. To have a rest. To breathe. To be. 

And then we can find joy in it. The texture of our loungewear. The taste of our tea. The pattern on the rug. The colour of the flower in the window. The sound of the wind outside.

And to listen. To the small noises outside and inside. In this silence is that we can hear the forgotten voice of our souls.

And that’s how everything can be reset.