The Energies of Winter

Cycles are inherent to nature. Each day, we move through dawn, daylight, dusk, and night–and in the same way, the world cycles through seasons. Every season–spring, summer, autumn, and winter–carries its own energy, providing both gifts and challenges.

A Winter Writing Ritual

One way of honouring the slow, reflective energy of the season is to practice a winter writing ritual. You might do this once per winter, or you might practice it numerous times throughout the season. If you practice this ritual on multiple occasions, notice how your experience of it shifts. The beginning of winter, for example, carries a different energy to the end of winter.

If you’d like to explore what this might look like in practice, consider the following simple writing ritual for winter:

• Create a quiet, cozy space in your home where you can journal undisturbed for at least 20 minutes.
• Collect a few simple items: a journal, a pen, a candle, and a warm drink.
• Settle into your space and light the candle. Consider it a symbol of your inner light of awareness.
• Spend a few moments to ground yourself. Close your eyes or lower your gaze, taking a few slow, mindful breaths. Connect with the feeling of the Earth beneath you, and see if you can sense any of winter’s energies in the room.
• Take a few mindful sips of your warm drink, offering a word of gratitude for its warmth and nourishment.
• Set a timer for 15 minutes (or more) and tuck your phone away. Until the timer rings, journal freely or in response to a winter writing prompt.
• When the alarm goes off, close your journal and your eyes. Take a few mindful breaths and offer yourself a word of gratitude. Thank yourself for tending with care to your inner world, opening the door for insight and renewal to come through.

11 Winter Writing Prompts

If you’re ready to begin a winter writing session, consider the following writing prompts. As you write, try not to overthink or analyze your words. Simply let what longs to come through to come through.

• What does this winter season have to teach me?
• What is my relationship to the energies of winter?
• How can I encourage mental and physical renewal during these months?
• What animal embodies the energy of winter, and what would that animal like me to know about my own journey through this season?
• What does it mean to shift from ‘doing’ to ‘being’ and how can I do that more often this season?
• What does self-care look and feel like during winter?
• In what ways am I invited to slow down this season?
• Describe all the different ways you can find or cultivate light during winter–literally and metaphorically.
• Look around your world right now. Write about the things you see or sense that embody winter’s energies.
• Close your eyes and imagine a peaceful winter landscape. Describe it through all of your senses.
• Write a fictional story about a character walking slowly through a serene winter expanse.

A Word of Warmth

Writing through winter is a wonderful way of honouring the energies of the season. But while this practice can certainly nourish and inspire us, we might also discover uncomfortable insights or emotions along the way. Amidst any challenges that arise during this season–whether during a writing session or otherwise–offer yourself your own warmth. Your warmth comes through when you practice patience, curiosity, and self-compassion. Allow yourself to be where you are–as you are–knowing that all seasons are essential phases of nature’s cycle. Spring will come soon, and until then, nurture the loving light of awareness that is always within you.