As winter draws in.

As winter draws down and the nights draw in we begin to hunker down into our burrows for warmth and light. The central heating is switched on and the curtains drawn, ever earlier. These seasons which effect us all seem more acute as one gets older, the cold gets into the bones and one feels the draught as the circulation struggles to reach the furthest points. But its in the head that the greatest damage is done. The lack of light, the long dark nights seem to bring  foreboding, the time drags and is not taken with active projects but reflections. The half full, half empty caricature prevails and brings to mind ones susceptibility to look on the gloomy side of life, if life is not full of deflective activity.
For most of our lives we are propped up by events often outside of our control but events which have to be countered with something we have to do. The constant doing is what enriches our lives and prevents too much self analysis. Self analysis of course can be good for one but it has to be carried out within a healthy environment otherwise the result can become depressive. The recognition that we are in essence alone is a sobering reflection since much of our joy comes from people and events that happen around us. We feed off these interactions and in a way, make them our own when in fact they are no such thing. It is in our own mind that we should find peace and contentment, the satisfaction we find in knowing ourselves, recognising our strengths and weakness, not being troubled by other peoples evaluation of who we are.
But no man is an island as the saying goes and so we reach out to others in an attempt to find similar common ground to confirm our prejudice.