Only one more week to the winter solstice!

A place to discuss casual topics amongst spiritual friends.
binocular
Posts: 8292
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 11:13 pm

Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by binocular »

Yay!
Only one more week to the winter solstice! And then the days will finally begin to get longer!

Maybe I'm just getting older, but this winter has been really difficult for me. This year, I seem to be less able to deal with the cold and the dark.


Where you live, do you have a proper winter with cold and snow? How have you been handling the dark?
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
JohnK
Posts: 1332
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 11:06 pm
Location: Tetons, Wyoming, USA

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by JohnK »

The increasing darkness leads me to read more after work.
I really enjoyed the early morning light on the snowy mountains over the weekend (This time of year, I am usually at work in a building before that happens). This morning there was "hoar frost" on the trees, so they sparkled in the morning light! (looking out my window at work).
The nearby ski area is reporting that 146" of snow has already fallen at the summit. Although solstice is coming, we'll probably have snow on the ground through March at least (and that's just the valley floor). It is very helpful to have an enjoyable winter activity (like cross-country skiing) -- if one is just waiting for spring/summer, it is very tough. In the past there were serious issues with "cabin fever" around here -- many folks lived on isolated ranches that were almost inaccessible. We usually get a few cold snaps each winter where, for a week, morning temps are -20 degrees F. or colder. Many folks who don't have a garage have engine block heaters. We also have warm clothes! As the snow does not get as deep on the valley floor, the elk and moose come down -- we sometimes have a moose take up residence in our back yard for a few days. So winter has its pros and cons -- I love it here!

[If one has a taste for mountains and wilderness (As Maha Kassapa says, "Those rocky crags refresh me" -- Thag.18 https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... han.html ), deep snow multiplies the wilderness factor as does nighttime -- moonlight cross-country skiing in the mountains is profound. I must have done something really good in a past life!]
bino: you really got me goin' on this one.
Those who grasp at perceptions & views wander the internet creating friction. [based on Sn4:9,v.847]
User avatar
DNS
Site Admin
Posts: 17187
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:15 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, Estados Unidos de América
Contact:

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by DNS »

No cold and no snow here. It's been around 72 degrees F (22 Celsius) and sunny. Global warming, I guess, we've been having very nice winters the past few years, but then we pay for it in summers with temps over 100 F.

8-)
paul
Posts: 1512
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 11:27 pm
Location: Cambodia

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by paul »

Here the minimum is about 17° Celsius in winter, but it feels cold when the summer temperature is about double that, plus it requires different clothing. Spending time on cloud shrouded jungle peaks, sometimes in the rain, is profitable. It takes a few hours to slough off the attachment to human society, then the senses lock on to nature and one can feel quite alone; it is then that the attachments are faced fully and distanced through an effort of will. That state of mind has to be carried back into normal life, ‘protecting the sign’, mainly by remaining reserved. I think these two experiences should be conceptualised as two separate realities.
User avatar
retrofuturist
Posts: 27848
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

Down under it's the opposite, of course... long days and plenty of sunshine! (Which I really appreciate given that I tend to briefly get Seasonal Affective Disorder around our Winter solstice, so this is the complete opposite)

I love this time of year, because Christmas is coming up (which means some time off work), but also because the days are long, the weather is warm, and there's cricket on the television!

All I need to be particularly careful of is the prospect of sunburn and other possible effects from the intense UV levels and sun glare... of which there can be plenty.

Back to the nature of binocular's query though... when Winter kicks in I use my trusty Philips GoLite Blu and take vitamin supplements, including Swisse Ultiboost Mood. I also try to get outdoors, wherever possible, and try to keep warm.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
User avatar
Crazy cloud
Posts: 930
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 8:55 am

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by Crazy cloud »

binocular wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 6:49 pm Yay!
Where you live, do you have a proper winter with cold and snow? How have you been handling the dark?
Yay back!

Southern parts of Norway, but originates from up north, and living up there can be quite challenging in more than one sense - lack of sunlight, to much sunlight and so on. here in the south its less of above mentioned, but then it has other backdraws that living up north lacks - so basically its impossible to chose "the best"


And my take or answer to the question is to remind myself that that which sees the dark is not dark ...

Now in the middle of wintertime I plan to go up to the high north and do some walking, sitting, standing and lying down, and here is a recent picture:

Image

be well and bright! :)
If you didn't care
What happened to me
And I didn't care for you

We would zig-zag our way
Through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain

Wondering which of the
Buggers to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing
- Roger Waters
User avatar
catsquotl
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:23 pm

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by catsquotl »

Here it's cold and dark.
As always I have had a terrible time adjusting to the cold when the fall started in ernest, although I must say that now the first snow has come and gone over the last week. I feel up the the remainder of winter..

But then maybe my increased practice from none to an hour over the last 6/7 weeks or so may have some influence on my ability to handle the cessation of life in nature all around..
:candle:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please share your light in abundance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JohnK
Posts: 1332
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 11:06 pm
Location: Tetons, Wyoming, USA

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by JohnK »

Crazy cloud wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:57 am Now in the middle of wintertime I plan to go up to the high north and do some walking, sitting, standing and lying down, and here is a recent picture:

Image

be well and bright! :)
Wow! That picture (and sentiment) is worth a repeat!
Those who grasp at perceptions & views wander the internet creating friction. [based on Sn4:9,v.847]
User avatar
Zom
Posts: 2712
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 6:38 pm
Location: Russia, Saint-Petersburg
Contact:

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by Zom »

Where you live, do you have a proper winter with cold and snow?
My city is considered as one of the most depressive in Russia in terms of weather/climate. Sunshine? Never heard about that 8-)


Image
How have you been handling the dark?
Accept it as it is. For some this is a struggle and they migrate somewhere.
User avatar
Pseudobabble
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 11:11 am
Location: London

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by Pseudobabble »

Zom wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 3:05 pm
Where you live, do you have a proper winter with cold and snow?
My city is considered as one of the most depressive in Russia in terms of weather/climate. Sunshine? Never heard about that 8-)


Image


Strangely beautiful.
"Does Master Gotama have any position at all?"

"A 'position,' Vaccha, is something that a Tathagata has done away with. What a Tathagata sees is this: 'Such is form, such its origination, such its disappearance; such is feeling, such its origination, such its disappearance; such is perception...such are fabrications...such is consciousness, such its origination, such its disappearance.'" - Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta


'Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.' - Genesis 3:19

'Some fart freely, some try to hide and silence it. Which one is correct?' - Saegnapha
binocular
Posts: 8292
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by binocular »

Zom wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 3:05 pm
How have you been handling the dark?
Accept it as it is. For some this is a struggle and they migrate somewhere.
This spring and summer, I have probably spent more time outside than ever before, and I think I may have gotten conditioned to all the sunshine, to the point where I would prefer if it were bright and sunny at least from 5 AM to 7 PM every day.
I generally love sunshine, but I think this year, there may be some mechanical conditioning to this love, like when I got conditioned to fear horizontal steel wires without even knowing when it happened.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
JohnK
Posts: 1332
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 11:06 pm
Location: Tetons, Wyoming, USA

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by JohnK »

binocular wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:55 pm This spring and summer, I have probably spent more time outside than ever before, and I think I may have gotten conditioned to all the sunshine,
I'm no expert, but maybe part of it is that you got used to having a good amount of vitamin D from the sunshine and now you're missing it -- I thought it might be worth mentioning.
Those who grasp at perceptions & views wander the internet creating friction. [based on Sn4:9,v.847]
User avatar
retrofuturist
Posts: 27848
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

Also, feel free to give the Earth's axis a nudge, if you have the means to do so... balancing out the seasons a bit would be nice.

(I can just imagine the climate change activists recoil in horror at my suggestion...)

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Disciple
Posts: 513
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:13 pm

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by Disciple »

Winters getting warmer around here as well. It feels like spring.
Spiny Norman
Posts: 10159
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:32 am
Location: Andromeda looks nice

Re: Only one more week to the winter solstice!

Post by Spiny Norman »

retrofuturist wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:49 pm Greetings,

Also, feel free to give the Earth's axis a nudge, if you have the means to do so... balancing out the seasons a bit would be nice.

(I can just imagine the climate change activists recoil in horror at my suggestion...)

Metta,
Paul. :)
I have passed your suggestion to Doctor Evil....

Buddha save me from new-agers!
Post Reply