The Desert of Winter

This morning the temperature is above freezing--34 degrees. "Wow! It's warm out," my neighbors say to each other. Our coats are unzipped, and i'm wearing just a light fleece jacket. After a week or two of zero degrees Fahrenheit, 32 degrees feels like a heat wave.

Ice is melting, but we're not fooled. We're still wearing our yak-traks, our Stabil-Icers (studded snow tires for your feet), or micro-spike crampons, even to simply walk across the driveway.

My unheated garage is six degrees warmer than outdoors, so i take advantage of this heat wave to water the 65 pots of tulips and spring bulbs i have sitting in the garage. Winter is a desert of a sort, with water frozen and therefore unavailable to plants. The flowerpots have been frozen solid for the last 2 weeks, but now they are thinking of thawing. Just in case little tulip bulb roots are slowly growing in those flower pots, i don't want them to be parched.

Winter is a time when we ourselves feel parched--for sunshine and for warmth. Yet we all have a warm heart, if we simply take the time to notice, take the time to feel. Unzip the armor around your heart, and trust that your heart is indeed flowering.

If you need a reminder, check out my guided meditation A Flower in Your Heart.