Mani Counseling

today is a white heavy snow day, and it’s absolutely beautiful to just sit at home. the quiet wraps around me like a soft blanket, and the music plays gently in the background. I’m not very good with music, not at all, even though I’ve been learning to play the piano for more than 10 years. still, I know how to play one or two songs. just simple songs, but today, with the snow outside and my heart singing along, even those few notes feel full of something bright, something soft.

the winter here is something I’ve come to love, though it wasn’t always this way. walking in the cold now feels like a kind of peace. last night, my husband and I walked along a snowy trail in the forest. the snow on the ground made the whole path glow under the moonlight, like shadows of blue and white gently holding the world. the light was soft and loving, soothing in a way that only winter nights can be. it opened something in my heart—a kind of quiet happiness, so delicate, so tender, you have to be very still to feel it.

the other day, a little client of mine came in, a child with such a light presence. she said to me, “I feel sad sometimes, and I don’t know why.” and we talked about how nature never asks why. the snow doesn’t question why it’s falling today, why the sky is gray, or why the storm comes. it just is. I told her that sadness, too, just needs space to be. like winter, it has its own place in the heart. you don’t have to fight it or rush it—just walk with it, slowly. for a moment, I think she understood, even though I wasn’t trying to explain it in a way that’s “childlike.” children have a way of understanding with their whole being, a wisdom that’s quiet but awake.

today, the snow draws something in my heart, a kind of light, soft and still. it feels like it’s painting lines of love and quietness inside me. this day calls for being indoors, wrapped in warmth, but it also calls for stepping out, just for a little while, to touch the snow and feel the world breathing. this is what winter teaches me—how to be slow, how to listen, how to let the heart open gently, like a snowflake falling into light.