Winter Torpor

As a human living in the UK, it gets cold here. No matter what I tell myself or how I look at it, each year, when the temperatures start to head down towards freezing, my brain and body start to go into winter torpor, that state of semi-hibernation that badgers and other sensible creatures go into in order to survive the harshest of the seasons' weather.

Winter torpor is a shorter version of hibernation, based largely upon the temperature dropping, even squirrels are known to sleep through several days at a time when the going gets very, very cold.

I'm not a badger...or a squirrel, but it happens. The primal brain wins over and all systems slow down.

A while ago I learned that our primal brain is also responsible for those urges towards fatty foods in winter (together with our microbes - that's one for another time). It is a survival technique as old as time, in fact, a lot older than time...

So when things want to slow down, it's a natural rhythm that's worth paying attention to if you're feeling it. Winter is, for those of us living in the more northern climes, a time of increased darkness and cold, a time for holing up in one's burrow, sleeping more, dreaming and taking stock...

If approached properly, with a  little mindfulness, it can be a very nurturing and insightful time. In nature, there's a lot going on during winter, but most of it is unseen, deep underground. We can take from this that our own new beginnings are starting to form even before we are fully conscious of them. For it is not yet the time to act, just to connect...Who am I now? What is my direction? What is tugging at my heart?

And once we understand our natural selves better and learn to accept them, we can then perhaps allow ourselves to embrace the season, grab a roast potato (again with that primal brain - I have no use or desire for carbs in summer) a hot chocolate, a good book and a large duvet...and get some more sleep after that nap you had earlier...although migration to warmer climes is also an option, no?