On the Coast – Families Issue 94 I June/July 2018 | Page 16

Winter dreaming
Create riches from within
by Sarah Tolmie
W
inter is the time for going
within, literally and
metaphorically. In traditional times
it was when the harvest was over
and the family took shelter by the
hearth. It was the season to rest
and restore energy and for
communities to share stories, play
games and music, do craftwork and
make preparations for the next
season’s plantings.
Winter is usually a lean season for me as
a celebrant. Not many winter weddings!
My natural tendency is to be going at
a million miles an hour with multiple
projects on the go, and that’s how I love
it. So when winter looms it has usually
been an awkward transition for me as
I adjust to a different pace. This year
however, after many years of fighting
this, I am preparing for this natural cycle
with grace. This year I say ‘bring it on’
and my intention is to make winter a rich
time of creativity.
Hopefully by now I am having my
own “Eat Pray Love” adventures under
my doona. It will involve much binge
meditating, a return to my unfaithful
love affair with yoga as well as my more
permanent union with running. All this
is being counter-balanced, for sure, by
cups of tea and cocoa, soups and crusty
breads with (shock horror) slabs of real
butter and quite possibly even graduating
to glasses of red wine. There are about
five books on the go at once and instead
of living vicariously through watching
the movie reviews and trailers, I might
even see a movie rather than just be
aware of what I am missing out on.
I will not be taking this rest phase
lightly though. This is serious guys…I
might even…wait for it…(drum roll)…
get out the slow cooker! Or maybe not.
It would be much to my family’s horror
if it got a resurrection, not after last
year’s disaster. What was I thinking
putting a whole lemon in with the
chicken? Wrong. Rather than a lovely
delicate Lemon Chicken it was a mouth
puckering, stomach churning flop.
Oh who am I kidding? Me, slow down!
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KI DZ O N T H E C OA S T
Get real. For someone who helps people
change habits, I will be completely and
predictably back to my usual winter habit
of work, study, coach, counsel, ceremony
(yes that is a verb!) and write. That is
my preferred form of recreation. When
you walk your bliss, as I believe I do in
my work, the calling to keep learning,
creating and reaching out to people is too
strong.
I shared recently on my Facebook
page a great diagram which is the best
explanation of walking your bliss I have
seen. Imagine four circles all intersecting.
One circle is “what you love”, the second
is “what you do well”, the third is “what
the world needs” and the last is “what
the world will pay for”. In the small space
where all these circles intersect, this is
your BLISS. This is so true. Why would I
want to be disconnected from my bliss?
So this winter the true picture of my
hibernation within will be creative and
nurturing but still firmly within the
realm of my Life & Love enterprises.
Many ideas which have had to sit on the
backburner in favour of more immediate
deadlines are being resurrected and
lovingly attended to. I am brainstorming,
work, shopping, and mind mapping Life
& Love plans for world domination.
Watch out world! Be prepared for a
big bear hug and sloppy wet kiss because
come springtime this gal is going to be in
your face with programs, workshops and
seminars for children, families, couples
and singles with the bold ambition to
enhance, expand and enrich people’s
capacity to love and be loved.
Realistically for many of us the
traditional winter hearth slowdown
is merely a quaint memory. However,
the imprint of those bygone days still
plays out in our need to be together as
community, to be creative and to dream
new beginnings into life. Those darker
book ends to the day need not be bleak
but a source of inner illumination and
nourishment, whatever is your bliss. And
if I have some spare time…a few wines,
movies and novels might also creep into
the schedule!
Sarah Tolmie is a Life & Love celebrant, coach, pastoral carer and consultant assisting people to
celebrate, navigate, grow and heal through all their life & love transitions. Her practice focuses on love
& relationships; families & children; life success & fulfilment; illness, death & grief. As an holistic Celebrant
Sarah creates profound and meaningful ceremonies for all life & love events. Sarah is also a Laughter
Yoga Practitioner. You can visit her website www.sarahtolmie.com.au and receive her Daily Love
updates on her Facebook page at Sarah Tolmie – Life & Love