Snow helps
Hirzel, Switzerland by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash
“I believe that snow helps strip away the things that don’t matter. It leaves us thinking of little else but the greatness of nature, the place of our souls within it, and the dazzling whiteness that lies ahead.” ― Charlie English
If English is right about snow, it may help to explain why the final years of life are often compared to winter. No matter how long I might live, most of my life is unquestionably behind me now. Time, like snow, acts as a great filter that separates the trivial from the substantive. The years reveal aspects of our lives that were only masquerading as important, eating up time and giving us the illusion of permanence and security. It can be a very difficult lesson to learn; sometimes even heartbreaking.
Yet there is an unquestionable beauty to a snowy landscape, which paradoxically conveys the impression of freshness and purity layered over dead vegetation and nature in hibernation, awaiting rebirth. It’s a fitting milieu in which to close our eyes, breathe deeply, and rest. It’s a time for sleeping soundly and dreaming sweet dreams. Get ready to awaken rejuvenated and restored.
This post was first published seven years ago. Now, as I schedule it to be republished next week, we have a foot of snow on the ground that will not be melting away anytime soon. I have shoveled my walkway, driveway, and the street in front of my mailbox. Today I’ll tackle the deck, but will work in stages, without the need to get it done entirely. Despite the vigorous effort, it still has been a restful time, full of deep sleep and pleasant dreams. Snow indeed helps.
The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: clear, contemplation, invigorating, landscape, meditation, pristine, seasons, simplicity, snow, winter
Defeat Despair 
Dear Julia, I love your description of snow and how it affects us. While living in the great PNW you’d think we’d have our share and more of yearly snow, but no and I find I yearn for it and it’s magic. ❄️❄️❄️
Hi Carol, thanks for your kind words about the post. If we somehow could predict snowfalls a few days in advance with any accuracy, I’d tell you to come on down and enjoy the next one with us. But being so close to the amazing Yukon territory of Canada, you can get to snow there a lot more quickly than you could “visit” it here, and they have a lot more of it! No forecasting needed!
Good morning, Julia!
Snow does help keep us active. Keeping active helps us sleep better. So, yes, snow does help!
It also helps us appreciate the days when it’s NOT there! The sidewalks here are FINALLY free of ice…for now. But the parking lots are still annoyingly full of prime parking spots blocked by snow drifts that are now dirty and bothersome. Why doesn’t anybody ever free those spots up? I’m tempted to take a snow shovel with me and do it myself.