Winter Feast for the Soul

What nine months does for the embryo
Forty early mornings
Will do for your growing awareness
— Jelaluddin Rumi

Starting on Jan. 15^th people around the world will set their intention for personal and planetary peace. They will begin their mornings with 40 minutes of daily spiritual practice and continue this for 40 days. I invite you to join us as well in this “Winter Feast for the Soul”.

Winter Darkness

Perhaps you already start your day with some sort of meditation, prayer, journaling, or exercise. “Winter Feast for the Soul” invites you to go deeper during the dark winter months. Winter is a time of inner reflection, introspection, burrowing, and slower movement. This time is not an interlude between the fall and spring activity. It is a time that provides richness in the stillness. Time for quiet, inner reflection can be healing, holy, and transformative.

Setting the intention to add 40 minutes to your morning routine may not seem like a lot of fun. At least that’s how I felt when I first heard the idea two years ago. Yet I found that those extra minutes in the dark and quiet really did set my day with a better tone. By the time I got to work, I felt more grounded, calmer, open, and receptive.

Spiritual Practice

Your early morning practice can include anything that will help you clear your mind, find greater inner peace, expand your focus, or achieve more clarity. You can listen to peaceful music, meditation tapes, nature sounds. You can exercise if it’s meditative or introspective for you such as yoga, stretching, jogging, or walking. You can start a dream journal, draw, knit, watch the birds in your yard. The intention is to engage in some sort of introspection or spiritually oriented activity that will draw you closer to your Higher Power, the Source of your being.

From this place of inner peace and stillness, you’ll be able to carry that mindset and mood into your work. Imagine how much calmer, quieter, more deliberate you’ll be from this place of inner stillness. Things that upset you will not seem to jar you as much. Situations that seem like obstacles may reveal new possibility. You may see the path more clearly for decisions that have eluded you. As you find your own inner peace, you can then bring that peace to others at work.

Group Experience

You can gather to do a meditation or prayer with a friend who also is participating. I’ve found that I have enjoyed a group to do some sort of meditation once a week or every other week as a shared experience. Afterwards we provided time to reflect on the experience of our daily practice, to share what changes we’ve seen happen, to discuss what may be stirring over the 40 days.

There may even be a group in your community doing this. Go to the website to learn more:

The Mission of A Winter Feast for the Soul is to support individuals around the world in making a commitment to daily spiritual practice. A life grounded in daily practice is one that knows inner peace. It is that peace which will translate into peace throughout our lives and ultimately, to peace and healing for our planet.

We know that it only takes a few committed individuals to change the world. We are here to do that, and hope you will join us in this endeavor.

If you decide to do this practice, write here to let us know how you are experiencing it. If you have any tips or reflections on the benefits for you, please let us know.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon.