iContact E-Mail Template

Savor the Silence of Winter

Welcome! We're excited to start the Inner Garden year with the most fundamental of all questions: "Who
am I?"

There's no better question to prompt a year of self-discovery and renewal. And there's no better time to ponder the question than in the hush of winter.

The winter season gifts us the gift of rest and dormancy...a time out to restore the soil of our being, setting the stage for the growth of spring.

This month, in the quiet of winter, we'll help you learn more about the real you by posing key questions:

• How does the world see me?

• What saps my energy?

• What brings me joy?

• What do I want to say?

Let's get started.

How Does the World See Me?

You can learn much about who you are by identifying the way you're viewed in the world. Are the world's views about you accurate? What does the world NOT know about you?

• Make a list of ten roles you play, such as parent, spouse, volunteer, organizer, teacher, caretaker, friend. Now sort them, prioritizing the top five, then narrow the list to one. How closely does this describe the core of who you are? Does the world's expectations of you match the you inside?

• Who in your life knows you the best? Write yourself a letter from that person, describing what he or she knows to be true about you. By stepping outside yourself this way, you may be able to see yourself from a different perspective.

• Look at a picture of yourself as a child. What do you feel for that little girl? Who was she? If there are other people in the photograph, how did they treat her? How did she want to be treated? If this brings up fear, sadness, or longing, write about those feelings. If you can, allow yourself to feel them without judgment.

Sacred Listening

Tending Your Inner Garden is about listening to the voice inside that represents the real you—the you that's in alignment with a greater Source. Often this voice is drowned out by other voices, the world's distractions, or our own fears. Each week this year, we’ll offer a suggestion for making listening a sacred act.

This week: Sit in your sacred space and daydream. Pose a question to yourself, then see where your mind takes you. Here are some sample question...

• What do I remember loving most as a child?

• How would I be living my life if I didn't have family obligations/debt/a career/house payments/a pet?

• What do I want less of in my life?

• What do I want more of in my life?

Now enrich this listening exercise by journaling about it afterward. What images or insights emerged?

Our Winter Totem Animal: The Bear

The bear symbolizes soul, introspection, inner vision, strength, and transformation.

Learn from the energy of the bear. Preparing for hibernation, she chooses a place that supports her sleep but offers room to give birth before spring.

This week, find your special place of hibernation, following the suggestions, top left.

Favorite Resources

Personal Power Animals for Guidance, Protection and Healing by Madonna Gauding (Godsfield Press, 2006). Our early ancestors believed that animals, trees, stars, stones, and personal objects all have soul, and that animal spirits guide us on our journeys. We honor those ancestral beliefs in Tending Your Inner Garden, and we invite you to explore more about them in this excellent guide. What animal is your personal totem? What can that animal teach you?

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin, 2007). In her own way, the author explores the question, "Who am I?" through this memoir chronicling a year in her life. Following a traumatic divorce and another failed relationship, she sets off on a journey to Italy, India, and Indonesia to discover what brings her pleasure, what connects her to the divine, and how to combine the two in her everyday life. Told with great humor and insight, the book has become a guide for women asking key questions about joy, love, and the sacred in their own lives. If you haven't already read (or consumed!) this book, it's a great way to kick off the year.

"Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”

—Mary Oliver, from her poem "Wild Geese"