The Balance of Winter

Maybe one of the reasons I feel so out of balance during the winter here in Northeast Ohio is because it is so lacking in color. The bright colors of sun, flowers, grass and sky that keep me grounded in the summer are gone. Instead, our winter is mostly just a steady hum of brown coming from all the dead leaves, grass and resting trees.

But when it snows the perspective changes. Within one good snowstorm the mood turns dramatic. The landscape then takes on a unique combination of contrast between the white snow and the dark green and black colors of everything else. It becomes a fusion of dark and light and it becomes much more simple in its presentation.

It is at that moment of understanding that I am reminded of the bigger scheme of things. That the contrast and drama I see in a winter view may be the opposite of what I see during my most grounding summer season but it is precisely the contrast between the winter and summer months that gives me a sense of the larger balance of the opposites in the cycle of the seasons. I then realize that it is only with accepting that larger balance that I will truly feel my most grounded of all.