Again.

It's the "again" part of winter. It's snowing - again. It's cold and windy - again. My lips and hands are chapped - again.

When this all starts, along about December, it's all exciting and new. The cold is exhilarating, the snow is a miracle. It’s intoxicating, even joyous. But then it goes on. And on. And it continues on. Until finally it just D R A G S on. What was wondrous is now a cause of dissatisfaction or even depression.

The change, of course, Is only in our minds, or to be more precise, in our perception. We perceive the newness of cold with excitement and then project outward: “it” is exciting. When we begin to perceive that same cold with dissatisfaction, “it” becomes annoying. Really, of course, “it” isn’t different; we are.

So is this a lesson about changing our attitudes? Could be, if that’s what you need to hear today. But what I’m thinking is really just about vision: that we should notice how often (like, always) our perception drives our reaction, see the ways that we create our world – because what each of us calls “the world” is really just our perceptions of some abstract reality that may or may not exist independently. 

All that being said, there is one great and absolute truth that I can offer here today:

I AM DONE WITH WINTER!