The natural world will reveal what you need to do to heal, live a life of purpose, of meaning and miracles. This includes bears. There’s something to be said for having moments of isolation and hibernation. Cozy inside their dens, bears remain physically still and fall into a deep sleep to protect themselves from those things that use up a lot of their energy like the cold and searching for food that is in short supply. Bears adapt to the harsh elements of the winter season by slowing everything down. Hibernation is essential for preservation and repair, but it’s not meant to be long and drawn out beyond what is really needed. Bears always wake up and emerge from the shadows of their den. They instinctively know life requires they enter their den to survive just as they instinctively know they have to leave it to survive too. Bears emerge into the light of spring groggy but shiny and new. They are tender but their voracious appetite for the good stuff after a time of fasting must be satisfied to sustain life and their species. They have to move and forage for those things that will nourish them with just what they need to be the best bear they can be.

Time is never wasted during hibernation. Slowing down to be still and meditate on your life teaches you about you. You can take inventory of all your capabilities and decide how you might adapt when things get tricky. Sometimes female bears even give birth during this time. I imagine these aren’t the most restful moments of isolation for mama bears. During a time of slowing down what you learn, discover or give birth to may require some work. What drove you into your den that needed to be looked at, untangled and sorted? What happened that led you to slow down your breathing and conserve energy to protect yourself from the elements of this life? Knowing and understanding these things is important, but when the sorting is through, you’ve got to get moving. When you crawl out of your den, you’re going to need to hold on tightly to the seedlings of wisdom and strength you grew while in your hibernation to make things happen. You may feel like you haven’t stored up enough grit in your time of solitude because the idea of movement or change is too much for you now. Trust that you have what it takes. Move slowly at first being deliberate, determined and exercising all the self-compassion you can muster. Spring will arrive and so will the bounty of newness you’ve been waiting for.

Bears and their human counterparts both need to physically move from their space to sustain life. But the untangling, tunneling and swirling that occurs inside your mind and guided by your spirit is a different type of movement. It’s an internal shift that moves you to travel towards new ideas and new ways of thinking. It helps you glean what matters. Rest and slow down just enough so you can choose to really analyze what feeds you love, belonging and light so you can forage for it in times of scarcity. Your mind has the ability to give birth to new ideas and in hibernation you can hone in on the obstacles in your path and devise plans to break them down. Sometimes you’ll see that the biggest obstacle to movement is you and the thoughts that keep you frozen in place. Flow with the new mindsets you’ve spent time thinking about and stay persistent and true to what you want and how you want to live. Lead with your gifts, name them, share them and be grateful for the time you spent digging for them. Stretch, yawn and reach towards the light as you emerge from your slumber. Start to dance with the vibrational hum of all the activity inside you. It is alive and calls you to join in and bravely move to the front of the line in your own life. Wake up, emerge and connect with all the other bears that have chosen to let the light swirl, shift thinking and move them too.

Questions to ponder or good journal prompts!

1. What leads you to seek out stillness and isolation?
2. What have you learned about yourself or others when you slow down, meditate and reflect?
3. Have you experienced major shifts or movement in your thinking before? How has it affected your life?
4. Is it hard for you to leave “your den”? Why or why not?
5. What does “wake up” mean to you?