Casting Your Own Shadow

The only way the groundhog is going to see his shadow today is if someone shines a spotlight on him!

The northeast is getting hit yet again with a massive snow storm. The snow drifts are so high outside of my apartment that I can barely see out of the kitchen window. I was smart enough to stop at the store yesterday on my way home from church to pick up a few things in case I couldn't get out for a while. The last time I looked outside, I was thinking I should have picked up more  - I could be here for a week.

So what do you do when you're snowed in yet again, can't make yourself knit or crochet one more item (unless it's a pair of wings to fly to Florida), can't read one more book, and your hand hurts from surfing through Facebook for hour after hour? You start thinking. I always try to think about things like when to start seeds indoors or maybe adding a small water feature to my garden this year, but that doesn't always work. Sometimes your inner critic (I call mine Cyril) temps you down that path known as What's Wrong With You. Before you can say tulips you're casting a shadow of your own: what you did wrong, what you will continue to do wrong, and why you will always be wrong. Often being stuck inside for long periods of time feeling as if you will never see sunshine or grass again can play tricks with your mind, but there are lots of other paths you can wander down without making yourself the bad guy in a grade B movie.

So let's cut to the chase here and get right to the point. We are never wrong. We are always doing the best we can with the knowledge and experience we have at the time (thank you, Louise Hay, for those words). We make choices. If those choices don't work out, we make new choices, and we keep making them until we find ones that work for us. I don't care what Cyril says, I am not responsible for these endless snowstorms, or for below zero temperatures, or for not living in warmer climates - okay, that I'm responsible for but it's a choice, and I can always change it. We aren't wrong. We're just cold, in need of sunshine (both inner as well as outer) and some new, more uplifting choices to choose from.

So today I'm looking through my yarn bag for yellow yarn because I found my old daisy makers and I want to make a spring inspired pillow. I'm also scanning through old pattern books to find something inspiring - wow, look at that! I found a pattern for a baby sweater ... with wings! Sorry Cyril, you have to go back into your corner. I've chosen a better path to walk down today.

And so it is.