• Start with pillows. Lots of fluffy, soft pillows. These can be used to take drowsy naps or to start giggle-inducing pillow fights, if you’re getting cozy with a friend.
• Add a blanket, or ten. Winter is cold, and we human animals love to burrow down in a nest of downy layers. Also, they work wonderfully for blanket forts.
• Light a few candles. Look around. Now light a few more. Make sure the candles are sufficiently far away from your blanket and pillow nest.
• Light some incense or engage your sense of smell in some other way: If you love cooking, bake some bread. If you hate cooking, make sure one of those candles you lit smells like a beloved aroma that makes you feel comforted.
• Prepare the hot beverage of your choice. This could be tea, coffee, mulled cider, or even something stronger.
• Play some soothing music. My go-tos are Faun, Enya, and Loreena McKennitt.
• Now bundle up in your mittens, coat, and hat. Go outside. Stand in your yard for a moment and breathe in the sharp cold air. Look up at the clouds if it’s day, or the stars if it’s night. Be a part of the frigid beauty of winter.
• Go back inside. Feel the warm air as it hits your face, the needle prick on your skin as it starts to warm and flush red.
• Grab the drink you prepared.
• Sit in the blanket nest.
• Nap, if you so desire.
• Recognize the magic of being fully present for each detail of daily life.
