The Quiet Season

A Reorientation Back to Ourselves

There is a hush in the air these days. 

Beneath the swirl of holiday lights and the rush of plans and obligations. Even as the world seems to spin faster with parties, shopping lists, expectations, and endless stimulation, the season outside is whispering a very different message. 

This time of year, late autumn into early winter, is at its essence The Quiet Season.

Winter’s Wisdom: Learning From the Bear

In many Native American traditions, the bear is a sacred symbol of introspection, wisdom, and the deep internal work that happens when the world goes still. The bear withdraws into hibernation, not to escape life, but to integrate it.

During this season of darkness and cold, the bear digests the lessons of the previous year. And when spring comes, the bear emerges renewed and brings fresh energy and wisdom back to the tribe.

This symbolism is not tied to one specific tribe but appears widely across Native cultures, especially within Plains and Great Lakes traditions, where the bear is revered as a healer and a guide, a keeper of dreams and introspection.

Winter has always been the season for this inward turning - long before commercialization stretched December into a frenzy of pressure, productivity, and performance.

The Modern Dilemma: Outward Frenzy vs. Inward Rhythm

Yet here we are, in a season marked by overstimulation.

The women I’ve spoken with the last few weeks are describing the same thing:

• “I love the holidays, but I’m overwhelmed.”

• “My kids are overstimulated.”

• “It’s all too much.”

• “I don’t know who to get out of this holiday frenzy.”

And they’re right.

The modern holiday season pushes us outward toward more gatherings, more obligations, more purchasing, more activity.

While the natural season pulls us inward.

This misalignment creates physical, mental, emotional, and energetic exhaustion. We’re living in direct opposition to nature’s rhythm, and our bodies feel it.

The Quiet Season in My Own Home

Over the past several years, I’ve made a conscious commitment to honor this winter rhythm in the structure of my daily life. In my household, The Quiet Season looks and feels different than the rest of the year.

Here are some distinct changes I’ve made over the years to reclaim this season:

I no longer decorate the entire house for the holidays.

I gave this up years ago. It was a choice to release my childhood experience of watching my mom go all out with decorations, equally matched by her overwhelm.

Instead, I choose one room - one intentional, cozy, meaningful space to hold the energy of the season.

It shifts everything. It simplifies everything. It creates peace instead of pressure. I thought my family would rebel, but they felt the ease that descended upon me.

When the sun goes down, I turn off every overhead light. In their place, I use real and battery-operated candles, set on timers or with a remote, and I rely on soft lamps for any additional light. The atmosphere becomes warm, calm, and grounded. It aligns with the darkness that arrives earlier each evening.

By 8:30 PM, I shut down the television, the computer, and most nights, even the phone.

This is my boundary with the outside world.

Most nights, when my husband isn’t traveling, we spend 30 minutes on the couch just talking about our day. Nothing dramatic. Nothing deep. Just the simple, sacred ritual of connecting in quiet companionship.

Around 8:30 - 9:00 PM, I retreat to my bedroom, which is lit only by candles and a single lamp that I’ve fitted with a red bulb to protect my circadian rhythm.

I take a gentle shower under the glow of the salt lamps, allowing the warmth and dimness to usher me into a slower state.

Then begins my nighttime ritual.

Sometimes reading for an hour.

Sometimes meditating.

Always accompanied by Dr. Edward Group’s Solfeggio Healing Frequencies softly playing in the background.

This winter, I am returning to a beloved book - Women Who Run With the Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés. I read it about ten years ago, but something in me knew it was time to read it again. This time, I’m moving through it slowly, intentionally, over four to five months.

After each chapter, I journal. I reflect. I let the stories shape me from the inside out.

This is my commitment for The Quiet Season: deep introspection, slow integration, and quiet self-nourishment.

What It Means to Truly Honor Winter

Honoring the season doesn’t require a total lifestyle overhaul.

It simply requires alignment.

Here are some practices that anchor us back to winter’s natural rhythm:

• Dim the lights. Embrace the darkness rather than push against it.

• Turn screens off earlier. Let your nervous system soften into the evening.

• Replace activity with presence. Warm drinks, soft conversations, blankets, books.

• Slow your evenings. Let them begin earlier and end more gently.

• Reflect rather than push. Winter is for integration, not initiation.

Which brings us to another cultural mismatch…

Why January Is the Wrong Time for Resolutions

Every year, people push themselves into new goals on January 1st.

This is the darkest, coldest, most introspective time of the year and it never made sense to me why we do this to ourselves.

It’s no wonder so many resolutions fail.

Nature does not push new growth in January.

Nature sleeps. Nature waits. Nature restores.

Spring (March, April) is the season of emergence, of fresh energy, of outward movement.

That is the time to plant seeds, start new habits, and initiate transformation.

January is not for launching.

January is for listening.

A Final Invitation

As the world tries to pull you outward, consider this your permission slip to turn inward.

To rest. To dim the lights. To soften your evenings.

To let winter be what it is meant to be: a season of wisdom, replenishment, and quiet return to yourself.

When you align with this season - truly align - you will feel it: a deeper peace, a steadier energy, and a gentler way of existing in a world that often moves too fast.

If you want a more guided journey consider joining my free 30-Day Quiet Season Ritual

A Gentle Month of Returning to Yourself

This 30-day ritual is not a challenge.

It’s not about productivity, goals, or pushing yourself.

It’s about aligning with winter’s natural rhythm, softening your system, and allowing the quieter months to become deeply restorative.

The Quiet Season begins December 15.

You’ll receive everything by email.

All you need is:

• 5–10 minutes each evening

• A willingness to soften

• A desire for a calmer winter

→ Yes, I’m ready to join The Quiet Season

Let this winter be different.

Let it be quiet.

Let it be yours.