Dawn of a Season
February 01, 2024
My Northern European ancestors, who followed the Celtic calendar, would be celebrating today the Gaelic festival of Imbolc, honoring the goddess Brigid and the coming of spring. Later, February 1st became the feast day of Saint Brigid, whom many believe, logically enough, to be a Christianization of the goddess.
And tomorrow is the day Christians observe as Candlemas, which I won’t go into, except to refer you to the enlightening post today by Diana Butler Bass.
By now, folks in the Northern Hemisphere can really see that the light comes earlier in the morning. I notice it as I’m leaving my exercise class at about 6:45, although it will be at least another month before I can drive home without headlights. Then our modern calendar will transfer an hour’s worth of that early light to the end of the day, so morning headlights will remain.
In the Celtic calendar, Imbolc is one of the four cross-quarter days, halfway between the solstices and equinoxes. The cross-quarter festivals mark the change of seasons, so today is traditionally the beginning of spring. We’re not yet feeling it, here in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic, but in fact the crocuses and daffodils soon will emerge, their soft purple and yellow flowers brightening the dull winter lawns.
I love the turn into a new month, and it feels even more hopeful to think of spring beginning now, even as I’m scraping ice off my windshield in the mornings. After the initial burst of New Year energy, most of January felt dark, cold, and long.
What were the hard things that I’m thankfully leaving behind? What did I learn from them? What were the joys and surprises? And where can I see greening and new growth in my heart and mind?
Challenges and what I learned
I continued my almost daily workouts at my local Pure Barre studio. The 50-minute classes have anchored my physical fitness and movement practice for the past two years. I had begun to worry that I might be overdoing it, so for January I set a soft intention, not quite a commitment, to scale back, take fewer classes and spend the extra time walking and hiking.
But then the weather turned freakishly cold, miserably cold, for days on end. Low temperatures were in the teens, and the highs didn’t get up to freezing. And, always, a stiff, bitter wind, driving the the felt temperature down to around zero (F). Going outdoors was painful. Anything counted for a daily walk, even the two-minute walk from the parking lot to my Pure Barre studio, the only place I could get 50 minutes of exercise.
Most days, I didn’t want to do it. Didn’t want to leave the house, didn’t want to go through the exercise routines, didn’t feel good until the class was over. Days like this happen occasionally, but in January they were days on end, like the bitter cold.
I did take a few days off — those that were canceled because of snow and ice. I also doubled classes on a few days when walking outdoors was unthinkable. Last week I noticed that I was one class short of averaging one per day for the month. So I doubled on Saturday, took a class each of the last four days, and ended up with 31 classes.
It’s a crazy thing to feel a sense of accomplishment about, but I learned that I love the strength of my fitness habit. American choreographer Twyla Tharp wrote, somewhere in her book Keep It Moving, that your body is your second job. She was speaking to adults of all ages, and I, then in my mid-60s and recently retired, read her words and thought, “At my age, my body is my first job.”
Surprise and joy
I rediscovered Gretchen Rubin and decided I needed to read her book Life in Five Senses because, to paraphrase the book’s subtitle, I want to explore my senses and get out of my head and into the world. Then, serendipitously, came Day 12 of the 30-Day Drawing Habit from DrawTogether with WendyMac. Day 12 was about the SENSES! and featured, as guest artist, Gretchen Rubin!
New and growing in February
I took Rubin’s Five-Senses Quiz, designed to identify “the sense that you least often turn to for pleasure or comfort.” The quiz told me that my most neglected sense is hearing.
I’m inclined to challenge that result. I agree that hearing is not the sense I most often turn to, but the questions in the quiz sometimes mix in other factors, such as social situations. I was aware of this as I answered the questions, but still answered them honestly, as my authentic introvert self. For instance, if a friend invited me out, going to an event with great live music would be my last choice, even if I liked the music, because in general I don’t like events with crowds of people.
However, I do think that hearing is probably my second-most neglected sense (I would put sight first), and that’s embarrassing to admit, because I’m an amateur musician. I play clarinet and violin, practice daily, and play bass clarinet in a community band. Being a musician is part of my identity.
The quiz results give helpful suggestions to “awaken your appreciation” of your neglected sense, and some of them sound (yes) like fun, e.g., “create an Audio Apothecary with a playlist of songs to put you in a particular mood—enthusiastic and upbeat, or calm and focused.”
It’s easy to get stuck in our heads and forget to engage with the world around us, and it’s also easy to fall into ruts of experience. Tapping in to a neglected sense can awaken our mindfulness and revive our sense of excitement and wonder. — Gretchen Rubin
So, here are my intentions for growth and fun in February.
Keep a daily Life in 5 Senses journal — in drawings. That will keep me in the habit of drawing and, besides getting me to explore the senses, will serve as a daily practice of imperfection.
Create that “Audio Apothecary”
Re-start some abandoned crochet projects, maybe finishing at least one of them.
Read two books. I start far too many books, and finish too few. I’m looking to reverse that habit.
Start planning the garden! Spring planting time is coming soon.
