Shinshin

Winter this year is wintering so hard!

I don’t know if that’s an actual phrase but this is the first thing that comes to my mind whenever I look out of the window these days and better still when I have to actually go out of my house.

There is snow everywhere… like everywhere. On the pathways, on the roofs, on the pavement, in the backyard, on the cars, on the trees, below the trees, within the leaves of the trees, on the coats, on the boots, some make their way into your homes too and that day I found some on my eyelashes too when I was outside!

And when it solidifies into its meaner form, ‘Ice’ then all hell breaks loose. It leads to slipping, tripping, skidding, falling and many more such bad ‘ings’. Today itself I almost did a ballet all alone on black ice just as I stepped hurriedly on the pathway just outside my house. I slipped, twirled and thankfully balanced myself although I was wearing my winter boots. And the humans that we are, when such situations occur, we first see who all saw us rather than how many bones we cracked. Black ice is just so black that it creates an ‘ankhon ke aage andhera’ (darkness before your eyes) condition. It’s all luck whether you or your car trips or not.

Although ice looks amazing in the form of icicles hanging from the roofs, above the windows and don’t even get me started on those magnificent white frozen lakes! But that’s only for the eyes of poets and writers. Rest ice should stay in the place where it is loved by all. In the freezer as popsicles!

But snow is still beautiful. The sight of powdery white flakes of snow falling from the sky and creating a bed of puffed clouds on earth is nothing short of magical. Bare branches of the trees loaded with clumps of white snow which start falling at the slightest whiff of breeze is a delight for the eyes. I can try and point out countless hazards of snow yet the magnificence of it can’t be denied. I can’t separate it out from the ‘winter wonderland’ vibe in my mind.

Humans have a tendency to crib about everything. That makes them human. If given the chance, I could write a page about the harshness of the super sunny weather of Arizona too!

As quoted by the gyan gurus, let’s see the positive sides of everything. If we take a moment from our busy lives and for a few minutes or so, sit on a couch with a cup of tea in hand and watch the snow fall in a rhythm, it can be therapeutic for our souls.

If one has the privilege to see a snowfall with bare eyes, then one should enjoy it!

Ever wondered if snowfall makes a sound?

Raindrops do pitter patter, howling of the wind is whoosh whoosh, the leaves of the trees rustle but what do snowflakes do?

Shinshin… that’s the sound of falling snow in Japanese. It actually means ‘sound of no sound’. It’s the silence of deep winters.

I read just now about a severe winter advisory forecast for my area with snowfall and chilling cold. Let’s take out some time and hear the Shinshin… shall we?