Some call this time of year winter doldrums, otherwise known as S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder). I find winter days in Chicago to be a welcomed respite when freshly fallen snow covers the ground and dresses the trees and bushes. This winter I’ve had to wait until this month for real winter to begin, but when it arrived I felt youthful excitement for this amazing northern season. The morning AFTER my three-hour snow STORM ride home from work last week (usually an hour ride) was a new year’s gift of spirit renewal.

There is little more rejuvenating than the pure quiet stillness of eight inches of snow on the earth and blankets of snow around tree branches. Perennial seed heads are crowned with cone-shaped white caps. All is still. And most amazing is how serenely quiet the world has become.

 Absolute silent stillness seems other worldly. And yet being outdoors after an appreciable snowfall brings the oft neglected natural world directly in your face, so to speak. Roads are gone. Sidewalks have disappeared. Dried lawns, patios, driveways are no longer. City noises are magically absorbed. All there is nature and you.

I am reminded of the first line of the poem, Desiderata, which means “desired things“:  Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.