Fallow Time

A Winter Reflection

Nature sees this time of year as fallow time. Even the busiest of humans might notice that all around us, plants and animals rest and go dormant.

Once upon a time, I worked in a Fortune 500 company. I still remember how much I loved the weeks before and after New Years--for the quiet. Perhaps the only quiet in a busy year.

Now, with time and intention to observe nature. I've come to appreciate this fallow time even more. Even though winter days seem a bit warmer than in the past, and the frogs awaken with song earlier than before—when nighttime temperatures drop, all is quiet. We all need fallow time to gather our energies.

Friend and author Sandra Millers Younger shares this:

Scent of Sage

Sometimes the scent of sage floats to me on a fresh-washed breeze, carrying with it all the promise of desert earth loosed finally from a long, dry season of deprivation. Earth that has learned how to survive in shriveled state, biding its time until the rain comes, as it always eventually does, and then swelling into vibrance once again. There is a fragrance to this magic, a musty mix of hope and potential, the molecules of life in all its divine diversity, rising from once dry dust, stirring a soul’s spring, riding on the scent of sage.

Frogs and plants are in rhythm with the season, and I realize that, more and more, so am I. This is also my time to rest, regroup, restore and reimagine.

So like the sage biding its time, or like seeds in cold soil, we focus inward, we accept the rains and gather our energies in preparation for what is to come.

Friends, may this New Year bring with it a renewed commitment to life and joy in the journey. In Sandra’s words: “a mix of hope and potential".

P.S. If you'd like to hear more from Sandra Millers Younger, she's just re-released her book The Fire Outside My Window. A great read!