"One December a few years ago, a friend came to visit me in Santa Fe. She had been looking out the window of the airport shuttle bus, and when I picked her up, she asked, “Why do all the houses look the same?”  

It’s a fair question. Due to specific zoning, the “City Different” requires that most buildings be built in the Pueblo Revival style. That means my home and most others, are tan adobe houses with flat roofs. This is a signature of Santa Fe. Even grocery stores, banks and Home Depot are built in this style.

Most people jazz up their tan adobe homes by painting the doors and window trims desert-y colors like turquoise, sage green or purple to match the wild roses, lavender, lilacs and butterfly trees that bloom in the spring and summer. Along with the plethora of apricot, pear, peach, plum and apple trees, Santa Fe becomes very lush and colorful.

But in the winter, the gardens go to sleep. The cacti lay down, the lavender dries up, we prune back our roses and fruit trees and once again, everything matches the color of the houses. Tan.  

Guess what happens then? Farolitos! Paper bag lanterns start to pop up on roofs all over town. The drab city becomes a fairy tale place that heartens me in this time of darkness.  

But I have come to realize that lighting candles in winter is not just about helping us weather the season. It is a celebration of winter. An appreciation for this time of hibernation.

For me, resting has multiple aspects. One is Vertical Receptive—like reading or knitting. When my mind is engaged in something enjoyable, insights and creativity naturally arise.

Another aspect of resting is Horizontal Receptive, like napping or legs-up-the-wall pose. The key to this is Not Feeling Guilty. You have to believe in the value of resting so that you can let your mind be free. Buddhist teachings say the mind is like the vast sky. It has no center and no boundaries.

Resting is an activity, a valid and valuable activity. Like the farolitos, it is not just a one-off bandaid, or a denial of winter/reality. It’s a way to appreciate the innately beautiful element of our humanity, which is our ability to nourish ourself by becoming peaceful and quiet. Isn’t that amazing?

Resting is not just self-care. It’s self-caring. It’s caring about myself, which is how I grow my capacity for all caring, caring for everyone. Resting completes the story of being active. It's like how a reader completes a writer by receiving the words, or how an audience completes a performer by receiving the experience of the performance. Lying down and letting my mind wander receives the efforts of my nervous system, completes the cycle and nourishes my positivity, my confidence and my productivity. It’s basically food.

It reminds me of Shantideva’s advice in The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: Don’t expect the world to be covered with leather for your comfort. Rather, cover your own feet. This is called Spiritual Maturity. Taking responsibility for your own needs is empowering for you and also removes one less burden from someone else who would have to take care of you if you didn’t. It opens you up to be more present, more helpful, more loving, more you."

Cyndi Lee