Valuable Lessons from stillness & exercise in winter…

Its not me, but you get the idea! The grin, the pink, the hat, the passion.

Brrrrrrrrrr! Ears cold, uggs on, pulling out the winter tracksuit! Reminds me of when I was 10 years old and used to ride my bike 6 kms to school as a kid… My Nan made me a baby pink crochet cardigan and hat… with a pom pom on the zip….

I’d rise early, make myself porridge and wear my hat and cardy riding to school… I didnt care that I looked outrageous… I just LOVED that it covered my ears that would burn on the inside from the freezing air. The hat meant that I could experience the exhileration of the ride in the early morning at Mount Maunganui New Zealand, snuggled up and protected.

Some mornings it was so cold, there would be frost on the grass, like little green icicles, my lungs would burn from the cold, and everything was so still and quiet that everything was in slow motion, like in the matrix movie, where it felt like everything was else barely moved and I was the only present in my own world… that I was the creator…

A gentle silent stillness, except for me, the sound of the blood pumping through my burning ears, and the mist of my breath as it moved out and flowed in front of me and around me, reminding me I was alive x I loved life, I was excited by life.

I loved being my own power as my legs propelled me forward and I gripped the handlebars firmly, and I knew who I was in that moment… I’d arrive at school in time to place my bike in the bike racks, and place my pink crochet hat into my back pack and laugh with my mates at how silly my hat was, and still had time enough for my bright pink face and hands, to return to normal flesh color, fair and freckled allowing all the blood flowing in my body to settle in for a great day. Good times… Alive times…

My Hat was similar to this one… except for the dongles on the end of the straps… Big Loops … and straps that came down either side over my ears and buttoned up under my chin,

Thank You winter for all your lessons of hibernation, preservation, exhileration and wealth of knowledge… and for giving us all the opportunity to turn within.