|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 December, 2020
Dear Friends,
A couple of summers ago when I visited friends in Norway, I was amused when they lit candles at breakfast. Candles at dinner parties are one thing, but breakfast? It was only later that I realized that those candles are actually part of an entire philosophy of life--one that I've been thinking about a lot these days as we head into a winter defined by social isolation and Covid.
The Norwegian term for this approach is koselig (pronounced koohshlee). You might have heard of its Danish counterpoint, hygge, although koselig has a slightly different meaning. Both words evoke coziness (that's where the candles come in). Think of crackling fires, warm socks, homemade soup, and curling up with a good book. But koselig adds two interrelated ideas: the importance of being outside and of digging deep to find contentment and meaning in the face of difficulty.
Kari Leibowitz, a health psychologist from Stanford University, helped popularize this concept in the U.S. after spending time as a Fulbright scholar in Tromsø, Norway, a place so far north that in winter the sun doesn't rise from November through January. The season is called Polar Night, the counterpoint to summer's Midnight Sun. She was intrigued by the fact that Seasonal Affective Disorder is remarkably low there. Her conclusion: Tromsø residents embrace winter rather than dread it, because they recognize that the time of increased darkness holds unique opportunities for mental and emotional flourishing.
In an essay that appeared in the New York Times, Leibowitz gives advice on how we can implement this approach: "Try appreciating winter in your thoughts and your speech. When it comes to your thoughts, start by figuring out what you like about the winter. Maybe it’s the chance to light fires, even during the daytime. Maybe it’s an opportunity to get absorbed in cooking, or reading, or art. Maybe it’s the way the world goes quiet just after a fresh snowfall. Then, whatever it is, try to consciously focus on those things."
I think koselig can have a spiritual aspect as well. Especially during this time when many of us are unable to worship in community (a kind of Spiritual Polar Night), we can search for ways to transform our isolation into opportunity. We can't control our external circumstances, but we can control how we react to them.
Spiritual koselig might include things like lighting a candle in front of a gold-tinted icon, using well-worn prayer beads, or singing familiar hymns from childhood. We can reach out to friends and family for real conversations instead of quick comments on social media. We can read that spiritual classic that's long been on our bookshelf or try meditation, lectio divina, or praying the hours.
In short, we can try to view this time as a gift, instead of just something to get through. Remember that throughout history, spiritual transformation has come much more frequently in a desert, prison, or hospital than in comfort and ease.
In my own life, I'm trying to be more deliberate in how I spend my time. I've signed up for The Great Courses streaming service, which includes lectures in a wide variety of subjects. I'm greatly enjoying a course on Zen Buddhism and another on the Black Death (it's weirdly comforting to learn how miserable the fourteenth century was), though I must admit my motivation to learn about opera evaporated after the first lecture. Yoga with Adrienne is making me more limber. I've bought a pair of wet boots and am trying to embrace the Norwegian belief that there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. I'm trying to do a drawing a day, and I hope by the end of the winter I will have created at least one drawing of my dog that doesn't make him look like a pig.
Small goals, to be sure. But I don't want to waste this unasked-for-but-still-valuable gift of time, as tedious as it may be at times.
So how will you fill the winter months? My advice is to try the Coziness Cure: Get outside. Make some homemade soup. Light some candles. Welcome what this Spiritual Polar Night can teach you.
Stay safe and well--
Lori
(photo by Bob Sessions)
|
|
 Recommended Reading:
Meik Wiking's best-selling The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living introduced Americans to the benefits of this Scandinavian philosophy of simplicity and coziness.
If you have young children, read Linda Akeson McGurk's There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient and Confident Kids.
In The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life, Finnish journalist and naturalized American citizen Anu Partanen draws lessons from her home country for Americans.
Book Updates:
 Near the Exit: Travels with the Not-So-Grim Reaper is about places that have helped me come to terms with mortality. Foreword Reviews gave it a silver award for best religion book of 2019, calling it "an ideal guidebook for facing the inevitable,"
In November I talked about my book in an interview that was aired as part of the Des Moines Art Center's annual Day of the Dead celebration.
My previous book Holy Rover: Journeys in Search of Mystery, Miracles, and God is a memoir told through trips to a dozen holy sites around the world. According to author River Jordan: “Reading Holy Rover is like hitting the lotto of a road-trip with Anne Lamott, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Elizabeth Gilbert—one filled with intoxicating conversations, exciting discoveries, and plenty of spiritual rule-breaking.”
 For a full list of reviews, awards, and media coverage for both these titles, see my Lori Erickson website.
And if you've read and enjoyed either of my books, I hope you'll write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Your review will help other readers discover my work.
|
|
|
Have friends who are interested in inner and outer journeys? Forward this message! They can subscribe here:
|
|
|
Follow Lori on Social Media:
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
