Humans have celebrated this dark day with gathering together, warm fires, and feasts for millennia. But, in recent history our culture got so focused on all the holiday stress that it’s easy to forget what really matters—connection. 

For us to gather in the darkness is about more than shiny symbols. We’re helping each other feel safe, reducing stress through nervous system co-regulation, and strengthening our social bonds. Sharing warmth, time, and touch with others aren’t just nice things to do, they’re crucial to our mental and physical wellbeing as humans. 

One of the best things you can do today is to connect with your inner circle of people. 

Reach out to your anchor connections — partners, lovers, close friends, and family. If you feel weird because all your plans are coming up next week, do it anyway. It’s as easy as calling them and asking them to go get a cup of coffee or meet for dinner. You might be afraid they’ll say no, and that’s ok. Do it anyway. They’re very likely to say yes.

Eat well today and choose food that matches the time of year and what’s available in your local environment. Chances are, that means you’ll eat meats, fats, and/or starchy root vegetables. 

Give your body the gift of movement. Because it’s dark and cold, most of our movement has been relegated to driving, sitting at work, or being stuck inside. Bundle up and go for a walk, head to the gym and focus on some resistance training.

After you connect, move, and eat, let yourself be “lazy.”

We thrive from resting in this time of year. Give yourself time to read a book, snuggle up and do nothing with someone you love, or watch a movie. Let your circadian rhythm run the show and go to sleep “early.”

If you want to learn more about living well in Winter, you can pre-order my new book, The 4 Season Solution today. It releases on March 10, 2020, just before the Spring equinox.

In the meantime … how will you celebrate Winter solstice? 

I’d love to know. Post a comment below.