We recently had visitors from Hawaii, a mom and her almost eleven year old daughter. There are two other kids in their family, but this was their special trip. The daughter wanted to visit “winter” so they came to Alaska. She had never seen snow before and it did not disappoint. She loved it! This girl celebrated snow. She jumped in it, ate it, skied on it, threw it, sledded on it, and basked in all of its crystal white, frozen wonder. And really, when you think about it, snow is nothing less than amazing. Especially if you’ve been surrounded by sand all of your life.

Many of us who’ve lived with snow for more than a few years have lost or forgotten this sense of delight. Those of us who recreate in it are happy to see it fall. But along with that comes the need to dress for it, purchase gear for it, walk in it, drive in it, and shovel, shovel, shovel. After all we need to clear it out from where we don’t want it – the driveway, the roof, the car, the wood pile, the stairs, the deck, the dog house, and on and on and on. 

My yoga teacher and mentor has been instructing his students to orient ourselves to joy.

So, here’s the question – how do we find and authentically connect to that child like joy that we all once had? 

The reality is that there are a lot of grown up things that are downright hard. A few people suggested that we hand our young friend a shovel to show her the other “reality” of snow. But I say, let’s lift our faces and stick out our tongues, taste the sweetness of the next snowfall so we can remember the magic and miracle of snow.