January was a tough month and February got off to an equally difficult start, but one can find whimsy and beauty in the middle of winter darkness and political turmoil. This week I’m hoping to break up the winter doldrums with uplifting images from my recent visits to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
I’m not alone in looking for ways to cope with the recent events in our country and other parts of the world. Also, winter. Whew! Even though it can be beautiful after a snow storm, there is a cold, gray dreariness that gets to me.
As I read other bloggers and posts on social media, it looks like a lot of people are trying to find their way through the emotional challenges. Bringing a little lightness to the day can help. Working on this post has been an emotional pick-me-up and I hope that it is for you too.
Nurturing ourselves can take many forms. It can be visits to a museum to look carefully at a painter’s brushstrokes, walks in the bright sunshine, visits with friends and family, or escapes into a good book or a movie.
Sometimes winter isolation and depression about the state of things can make us feel like we are sinking. Sharing a few stories with a loved one, sharing sadness and laughter, pulls us out of our funk, as Sue Burpee writes in her post on High Heels in the Wilderness.
This tile is one of a collection of similar tiles in a Gardner Museum courtyard. There’s a whole wall of them and I enjoy slowly walking the wall and discovering a new image every time I visit the museum. There’s no time to think about anything else but the sweet, whimsical figures and creatures in front of me. Distractions are welcome.
We might find it helps to get involved in political action groups or to communicate to our representatives about what we want to see happening. Joanna Goddard writes about the 5 calls app in her post on Cup of Jo (this post is political, just in case you want to avoid political discussions right now).
Sometimes it can all be a bit much, as Abby Mallett explains in her Joy the Baker post.
” I oscillate between wanting to be informed and being so inundated with information it feels like my head will detach from my body.” She goes on to provide this comforting advice.
“What I can say is resistance and revolution can look like rest. It looks like dancing in the living room, laughing with your friends, and spending time doing things you love. It looks like focusing your mind and energy towards nurturing yourself and your community.”
I find it hard not to smile when presented with yellow, especially in flower form. If you’re feeling the winter doldrums, I hope that this beautiful orchid brings you some cheer.
Related Posts
Here are some other posts that you might escape into.