I waited as long as I could for the morning to warm up. At 22 degrees, I bundled and headed up the mountain.
I frequently question the sanity of walks in twenty degree weather, but only before the walk~~never after. For the necessity of fresh air doesn't differentiate between fifteen degrees or eighty degrees. The only difference is how we dress, the extra calorie burn in keeping the body warm, and the degree of color found in the terrain.
The winter mountain is barren. Stark. Grey. Crusted in ice. The sky over-compensates for the earth's lack of beauty. The deep blue reminds me of being underwater. In deep winter, I must find beauty above the mountain.
But look at this! Climbing a steep vertical patch to reach a trail, my eyes closer to the ground, I am surprised to see a speck of purple. This color doesn't emerge until spring, or so I had been conditioned to think. What flower blooms on a freezing mountainside in January?
When I enlarge the photo, it is indeed a flower of the most delicate composition. How? How does it survive?
The new book club's first read is a Holocaust story. For many years I read everything I could about the period of darkness, this period of light. Light because the evil ignited goodness, acts of bravery, people who sacrificed their lives to save others. I even led a winterim that studied the writing of this period, that visited the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles.
I didn't know if I could read another book. But the book's title was The Choice: Embrace the Possible, by Dr. Edith Eva Eger, an inspiring woman who's story was built on resilience, hope, suffering, miracles and growth.
The book is a purple flower in life's mid-winter chill. Reading it is bundling up and heading into the cold, and not only surviving, but thriving.
A share of favorite quotes:
"Revenge is useless. It keeps the hate circling on and on. When we seek revenge, even nonviolent revenge, we are revolving not evolving."
"Very often it is the crisis situation...that actually improves us as human beings. Paradoxically, while these incidents can sometimes ruin people, they are usually growth experiences. As a result of such calamities the person often makes a major reassessment of his life situation and changes it in ways that reflect a deeper understanding of his own capabilities, values, and goals." Richard Farson (174)
"You can live in the prison of the past, or you can let the past be the springboard that helps you read the life you want now...We can choose to be our own jailors, or we can choose to be free" (175)
"This is the work of healing. You deny what hurts, what you fear. You avoid it at all costs. There is a way to welcome and embrace what you're most afraid of. And then you can finally let it go."
"Stress is the body's response to any demand for change" (223).
"One of the proving grounds for our freedom is in how we relate to our loved ones"(239).
"So often when we are unhappy it is because we are taking too much responsibility or we are taking too little" (242).
"...the biggest prison is in your own mind, and in your pocket you already hold the key: the willingness to take absolute responsibility for your life; the willingness to risk; the willingness to release yourself from judgment and reclaim your innocence, accepting and loving yourself for who you really are--human, imperfect, and whole" (272).
"...healing isn't about recovery; it's discovery" (273).
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