Winter. It’s so cold outside. For me it’s means cosy nights in front of the fire and sumptuous old school cooking.
Although for many of my clients they don’t think about it like this at all.
They tell me they feel down and miserable and they think it ‘surely isn’t right’ to want to be in bed early, to not go out much and to want to eat and sleep more.
It’s important to understand that ultimately we are animals and are affected to some extent by changes in the seasons.
Long summer days can be wonderful and short dark nights in my opinion is simply the yin to the yang.
Choosing to feel miserable because it is cold and dark by mid-afternoon is a choice.
It is important to understand that how we feel is ultimately generated by how we think. In other words it isn’t the dark nights getting you down, it is simply how you are thinking about them.
Thinking creates feelings and therefore understanding that it is our thoughts that are creating how we feel really matters when it comes to the winter months! We have a choice as to how we feel no matter what the weather is. It can be hot and we can choose to feel good or it can be cold and we can choose to feel good.
It all comes down to the thoughts.
Thinking is something we have to start to be more mindful of. We often have so many thoughts go around in our mind and get stuck on the negative. It goes something like ‘It’s so cold outside’ to follow onto ‘why do I live in this country anyway’ and then ‘my job sucks too’! We go around and around in the negative all day long, it’s like we are asleep to what we are thinking and in turn, doing to ourselves.
As Eckhart Tolle states ‘It’s not the situation that causes us to feel bad, it’s our thoughts about it’.
So how do we make this change?
It’s not hard and it’s certainly not impossible. But what it does require, is patience and energy in helping yourself to help yourself.
First of all get mindful. Start to think about what you are thinking about.
You might be thinking ‘I know what I’m thinking’ but the truth is you may not actually be ‘aware’ of what is exactly going on in your head all day long, so my suggestion is to get a beautiful notepad and start to write it down.
Once you have your thoughts written down ask yourself if they are working for or against you.
In other words are they making you feel good or making you feel awful.
Then remind yourself you have a choice and in turn, how can you look at this differently to feel better.
Better thoughts equal better feelings.
Changing your perspective might just mean that Winter actually becomes your new best friend.
How cool is that.