“What is wrong with feeling joy in this clout of cold? When something is over, it’s over–no doubt, no turning back, no illusion. Winter’s big hit is a kind of liberation. It’s a chance to stop, to turn our backs on effort. We can let ourselves rest. We can turn within.

This is true for great losses in life. A clean acceptance of them is finally freedom. The slow recovery from grief is a winter season of sleep, of rest and allowing things to be. It is trusting, rather, that “what is” just now will move us to “what can be.” Joy and loss are together. Loss cauterizes, and grief, when fully accepted, opens us to new life, to a mysterious, inexplicable joy.” ~ ‘A Mystic Garden: Working with Soil, Attending to Soul‘ by Gunilla Norris