Hygge Diary - Finding Warmth and Inspiration in the Coldness of the Season

A time for retreat, reflection and rejuvenation

Retreat

Imagine - the warmth and comfort of your perfect retreat. For me it would be the hint of rustic charm after a day spent breathing the crisp countryside air, high up in the hills. Snowflakes melting. The crackle of a welcoming log fire and the warm and scented glow of candles - scents of pine needles, moss. Coffee. Notes of amber and cinnamon.

A new dawn, gives way to another dream.

Imagine awakening to fresh inspiration, alert to the fact that you have been given renewed opportunities. Take a moment to get things into balance in your mind. Set the intentions, find the trail, and move towards your destination. You’re ready to show up and stamp out all fear. You’ll power on through perceived obstacles. There’s a new dawn, which ultimately means a new dream has surfaced. It’s time to hunker down and reflect. Look within. What brings you joy? What brings a sense of purpose? What does that dream look and feel like? What is waiting out there in the quiet?

A January Sunrise

This blog edition is about beating the inevitable January blues and finding inspiration during what I certainly find to be, a very downbeat time. The joviality of the season we have just come out of seems all but a distant memory. For many, the merriment is over and work beckons. That all sounds pretty dull, right?

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Rejuvenate

As we approach the start of 2025, I cast my mind back to the beginning of 2023 - the morning I woke to a world that was airbrushed white, the sun gently rising to reveal a glorious hoar frost. The clouds were moving and so the snows were blowing in. I took a moment to feel for the little garden birds who struggle in winter, but thankfully there was food for them in the feeders.

It’s not just the wildlife that find this point in the year a challenge, lots of people do too, and this of course is not helped by the colder weather, bleak pewter skies full of icy rain and not least, being buffeted by cold winds on a regular basis. It’s a time of the year when all the joy, warmth and light seems to have evaporated. That said, we must remember that everything is cyclic and that the wheel of the year turns continuously. Gradually, the cycle will come around again and soon Spring will arrive.

Local walks in the Christmas mists

One of the most essential items for me this year will be the 2025 Almanac (see fireside reads below). I have always been quite a spiritual person, however, life always gets in the way, so I’m setting out to be a little more intentional in 2025. This seasonal bible of sorts will help me to live more in sync with the seasons and the cycles of the moon, ensuring that I harness and direct my energy in the most effective way, while allowing myself time to rest and recuperate when required.

The moon this month (January) is of course the Wolf Moon (or Cold Moon). The moon has always been used to keep some form of time, with the lunar month being 29.5 days, which sees it go from invisible (new moon) to completely visible (full). However, 12 lunar months add up to 354 days. Briefly, this is where the ‘12 days of Christmas’ came into play. I won’t go into detail here because you can read up about this, however, historically, in the West, various bishops, clergy etc inserted 12 days into the Calendar - 12 holy days of feast and celebration starting Christmas Day and ending on 5th January, this, followed by Epiphany on the 6th. The moon cycles play a role if we are to take time to be ‘in sync’ with natures rhythms.

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Reframing our Outlook

In order to get around this time of, dare I say, depression, I’ve really seen the benefit in recent years in actually re-framing things a little. Thinking back to late November, when all that time and excitement leading up to Christmas just opens up and stretches out in front of us, is a wonderful memory. The festive decorations that make our towns and villages welcoming and beautiful, the atmosphere and scents of the festive markets. Catching up with friends and family. The joy of giving and receiving gifts. Now, however, it’s time to file away decorations and lights once more and head into the bleakness - an empty vacuum. Or so it seems. To deal with this, I have learned to reframe that bleakness and instead, harness the potential cosiness of the season and give it purpose.

At this time in particular, there is often pressure and focus to make resolutions for the coming year. This is something I no longer do as I have found that basically, we often end up with what is effectively a huge ‘to do’ list, and as a result, we can easily start to feel overwhelmed and feel bad about ourselves when we fail to achieve all those prescriptive goals. It’s like we’re setting ourselves up for failure before we’ve even begun.

Instead, forget the norms and expectations, and take a step back. See that January is actually the month to stay in retreat while working on rejuvenating the spirit. See January as the prelude to the coming year. The nature around us is in hibernation, so why shouldn’t we also take nature’s lead and take this time to nurture ourselves and reconnect with ourselves, and truly reflect upon what kind of intentions we want to set for the coming months. When the warmth, lights and festive cheer seems to have gone, set about creating your new environment - one of cosiness and comfort. Light a candle and gently let the imagination unfold - what is waiting in the quiet? Follow your minds lead to whatever keeps visiting you. Set time out of your regular environment to find and utilise this stillness and draw out what is within you. To do this you can use visualisation or journaling exercises to help you if needs be, or listen to an inspiring podcast. Find a time that suits you - are you a sunrise person or more of a night owl?

The idea behind this stillness in time is to really draw out what brings you light - what is it that brings you excitement and ignites the fire within you? Really take time to examine your inner feelings. What do you consider to be your true purpose? Try to focus on how you want to feel too. Can you reflect upon the previous year and identify times when you felt at your most contented? When you were most fulfilled? If you can identify where you genuinely find joy you will uncover your inspiration, which in turn, will ultimately bring with it a natural motivation. That is what we want to achieve. Moving on from this, think about a word or phrase to sum things up. As an example, in 2024, during my quiet time in January, I chose to focus on ‘Self Care’ - this was my word and theme for the year ahead, no overwhelming new year’s resolutions or task lists, just a general and far reaching focus point.

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Getting into the Flow

Yes, that’s right – the waters of opportunity! Where attention goes, energy flows! Once you have identified your rough focus point, or even if it’s just a word for the year ahead (it does not have to be detailed), this gives you scope during your ‘quiet time’ to dream, feel and set your intentions. You can create new habits that support your focus point, even start new projects. By refining our focus, it takes away any negativity that may be lurking, because we are training ourselves to recognise and embrace positive feelings, thoughts of joy and contentment. This means opportunities will become visible to us.

Remember, opportunities will always present themselves to us when we keep our focus in the right place and away from negativity and the things we don’t want.

Once you have your word and focus for attention, you only need to take a small action or step each day (or week/month) that supports this. As you move through this process other good things will start to happen for you too.

Early snows

You now have a target. Can you imagine how hard it must be to shoot an arrow at a target if you can’t see it? The idea of focus is to ensure you can see the target – that you’ve identified it.

You have some inner knowledge that you have drawn out. You will discover that you can find your natural flow when you utilise this methodology. Things will develop naturally. You will no longer feel lost, but instead will be guided by your inner wisdom and your quest for joy and purpose. You are retreating, but through rejuvenation you are also beginning - from that, you’ll keep moving forward.

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Physical Space Clearing

I have often utilised the process of physical space clearing for some time. It can be anything from clearing clutter from your work desk/area or your wardrobe or drawers. It is symbolic, for example, space is cleared in your workspace making it more organised and ready to accept new challenges, welcome new ideas or projects. Clearing and ordering your wardrobe brings clarity and space for a new improved look. You can also create this space within your mind, by decluttering and discarding the negative chatter of limiting beliefs. An ordered mind will help us to spend more time in the waters of discovery and opportunity.

Seasonal candles from the White Company - photo The White Company

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My Journey

My word / focus point for 2024 was ‘self-care’. It came from my desire to lose some weight and generally feel better about myself.

There were no big targets attached, just a very basic focus point. The lesson though is this: out of that came some big wins and new directions, which all felt totally unhurried and natural. I got to reduce dress sizes, cholesterol and blood pressure by pretty much harnessing the power of hill walking as a daily habit - which I thoroughly enjoy. By not putting myself under pressure, the journey really did unfold for me and led me towards other opportunities and areas I would perhaps not have considered previously. I found new interests and inspirations (this blog being one of them) and ultimately discovered things that brought me lots of joy and excitement. Everyone has the power to do this.

This Month’s Fireside Reads

The Almanac - A Seasonal Guide to 2025 - Lia Leendertz

The Monk who sold his Ferrari - Robin Sharma

Kokoro - Beth Kempton

January Haiku

Fierce raindrops

Cascade from pewter skies

Puddles and lakes amongst crops

All photos by @country_and_hygge unless otherwise stated.