Lifting Spirits in Winter?

Lifting Spirits in Winter?

Let's lift our spirits!  Let's do this to keep our sanity during the long, cold months of winter.  Yes, let's!

Lifting our spirits is as easy as pie.  And who doesn't like pie!  Honestly, I love chocolate pie.  We tried to make one once.  Did all the things the right way, we thought.  So how in the world did it turn out so wrong?  The chocolate was lumpy--really lumpy.  That was the only time we tried.  But I am off topic!

So, how can we lift our spirits and survive winter?  Well, we could buy a new car.  Or redo a room in our house.  We could remodel our bathroom.  But wait.  We just did that.  We could move furniture around to create a more open space.  Did that, too.  We could give ourselves a microderm abrasion to remove all the dead skin cells from our face.  I like doing that.  The list of things we could do is long.  But none of them  brings much of a lift in spirit.

Something that always works for my spirit is to meet a friend for coffee or lunch and visit.  Isn't that so simple?  That human touch is the best thing in the world for making me feel better.  I love listening to the stories my friends share.  When I listen, I cease to think about myself.  How refreshing that is!  Thinking about myself is not terribly interesting.  Anyday.  Anytime.  But, listening to them share what is happening in their lives brings me joy.

You see, we are all on a journey.  Each journey is unique.  Each person's story is different from mine.  Sometimes I receive an answer to a question simply by listening to how someone else solved a challenge in their life.   Listening to their story means I must give my full attention to what they are saying.  I commit to memory important things they share so that I can ask about them at a later time.  I want them to know that I care about them.

Laughing together over some goofy thing we have done is another way to lift dreary spirits.  It changes our mood.  The more we laugh, the better we feel.  And when we walk away from our time together,  that laughter we shared often returns to tickle us again.  I love the kind of laughter that takes my breath away.  I love the memory of laughter shared with a friend.  We should make it a goal to share a good laugh with someone each and every day.

It is winter.  Winter is long and hard.  It can be quite distressing.  Even challenging.  However, we have the power to lift ourselves out of the gloom and doom.  We can do that by picking up the phone and calling a friend.  We can send an email or a text.  We can make plans to meet at a coffee shop or restaurant.  We can move out of our regular schedule and into the light of a friend's grace.

Be well.