“A good beginning is half the work” - Old Irish proverb
The Winter Solstice is upon us. On Monday, December 21st, we will experience the fewest daylight hours of the year. But the shortest day of the year is also the start of a return to light as the earth begins to tilt back toward the sun. In general terms, this day is regarded as the start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, but for some the Winter Solstice is a time to celebrate the cyclic nature of life. It serves as a reminder that all endings become beginnings, and that all things flow through a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
The Winter Solstice has been celebrated around the world for thousands of years. Many of its earliest rituals can be found in some of the traditions associated with Christmas. Since it is a return to light and the start of a new cycle, the Winter Solstice features rituals that provide opportunities to let go of the past and celebrate rebirth in the year ahead. One ritual includes making a fire and then burning items that symbolize what you want to let go of from the past year (a facemask, perhaps?). After symbolically incinerating the past, the ritual then includes creating intentions for the new cycle that is about to start.
Of course, the ritual of letting go of the past and planning for the future is not exclusive to the Winter Solstice. Health clubs, weight loss products, and smoking cessation programs are just a few industries that profit from New Year’s resolutions. However, the intentions set during the Winter Solstice are quite different from the “nose to the grindstone” type statements one makes at the start of the calendar year. By definition, a resolution has an element of rigidity—the definition of resolved is to be firm in purpose--and is driven by a sense of determination. Resolutions require a tremendous amount of energy, both to initiate and to maintain. Directing our energy toward extinguishing an unhealthy or unwanted behavior comes at a high cost, as it leads to an endless cycle of avoidance and approach. Although the desire to change our behavior is well intended, the use of a resolution is flawed. The energy required to hold on to a resolution, to stop doing something, is relentless and stressful. We can only fight for so long before our mind and body become overwhelmed. With time, we start to lose steam and our determination weakens. Eventually, the battle you so bravely started with the unwanted behavior falls apart and, before you know it, you’re waving the white flag.
The Winter Solstice ritual of setting intentions for the new cycle of light lacks the hard edge of making resolutions. An intention brings your awareness to a quality or value you’d like to develop in yourself. It is a conscious decision of where you want to direct your energy in the present and how that might shape your future. Intentions are like stepping stones that create a path toward a higher purpose in your life. Rather than focusing on extinguishing undesirable behaviors, they shift your attention to cultivating the best parts of yourself, opening you to what is possible rather than what you want to resist.
Typically, the difficulty with intentions lies in setting them. By nature, intentions are elusive as they aren’t tied to a specific behavior or outcome. They lie quietly, buried deep within us, and are hard to find in our extroverted culture that values achievement and success. Intentions are easily confused with goals, but the two are quite different. Goals have clear edges; they are specific, action oriented, and tied to a measurable outcome. Whereas goals are formed under the harsh glare of analysis, intentions rest quietly within us. They come to light slowly through a process of uncovering our strongest values, those heartfelt desires which give our lives meaning and purpose. Intentions ask us to live with integrity, guiding our actions so that our goals are in sync with our values. Living with intention fills us with purpose, joy, and a sense of deep satisfaction.
I once heard a speaker say that we are human beings, not human doings. This statement holds the key to understanding how to set an intention. Whereas resolutions and goals require doing--taking action with the expectation of a future outcome, intentions start by turning our attention inward. Intentions require us to be still so we can listen and notice how we respond to what is happening in the moment. The world is loud, constantly distracting us and demanding our attention, pulling us in many directions. All that noise and all that doing overwhelm our inner voice. It is only in moments of silence when we can hear our deepest desires. It is when we turn inward and find stillness that we can touch what makes us feel grounded and whole, what makes us feel most alive, what makes us hum with our own unique rhythm. This is the space where we harvest the raw materials used to set intentions, thereby creating the path that leads us to a rich and fulfilling life as a human being.
In yoga, sun salutations are one of the rituals used to celebrate the return of the light. Sun salutations reflect the cyclical nature of life with a series of poses that move us from the front of the mat to the back, and then back to the front again. Moving with the breath through flexion and extension, the heat generated by these movements reflect our reverence for the warmth generated by the sun. The openness generated in the salutations’ backbends honors the movement of earth toward the sun from winter to summer whereas the flexion of forward bending symbolizes the inevitable descent into darkness that leads once again to the shortest day.
Comments