What would it look like to honor the winter solstice by creating space to turn inward and listen to what’s calling you?
This weekend is the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. An invitation to come to a true pause as we reach this turning point in the year and allow ourselves to turn inward, to hear the whispers of our inner voice as everything around us stills.
I’m actually writing this on Wednesday, because from tomorrow I’ll be at a five-day silent meditation retreat in Devon, without access to technology. It’s my first time going to something like this and, in many ways, it feels like inconvenient timing. The list of things I want to do to wrap up 2025 is LONG. We actually have quite a packed few weeks coming up, visiting family and friends across the UK over the holidays. It’s all good stuff, but taking five days out of my time to sit and meditate is making me feel more stressed about how I’ll get everything else done.
Of course, this is a sign that it’s exactly what I need – dedicated time to let the “doer” in me rest so that I can, as Rumi writes, hear what in my life is calling me when all the noise is silenced. With so much going on, a few days of communing with my soul will likely do me good.
While you may not have the time, opportunity, or interest to go on a meditation retreat over the solstice, it’s always possible to do something to honour the solstice (the exact time is at 15:03 GMT on Sunday, 21 December). Pause and look at the sky. Take a walk in silence. Do some yoga. Write a list of everything you are ready to let go of for 2025, and what you want to invite in for 2026. If you need a structured exercise, try the Year Compass. Whatever it is, see if you can give yourself some space to listen for what still pulls on your soul. It might just help you orient for the coming year.
