winter beckons healing hibernation in us all
During early winter, bears enter a hibernation state called torpor to conserve energy. In this restorative state, their body temperature drops to just above freezing, their heart rate drops from 50 BPM to 8, and their respiration rate drops to about one breath every 45 seconds. Humans may not be able to hibernate quite like that, but wintertime still serves as a time to wind down, rest, and reflect. May this new year be a cozy one!
Let your weary body wear
the guise of brown bear
and sleep away the ebbs and flows
and dust motes of seasons prior,
belly full of rice porridge
and heart brimming with
incubating hope.
Through the snow and the ice,
get nice and cozy with cups of cocoa
and flannel sheets and books by the heaps.
It is your time
to rest and reset—
rest as the flock of snowflakes slumbers
upon bare hickory limbs,
reset like the nival blank slate
that'll give rise to spring's saplings.
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