How To Adjust Your View For Winter Well-Being

Winter doesn’t have to feel gray or heavy. We share simple, warm ways to adjust your view—around the house and inside your head—so the season becomes a source of comfort, not something to endure. Inspired by the idea that we obsess over a vacation room’s view yet overlook our own, we show how tiny changes can reshape daily life. 

We break down low-effort, high-impact upgrades. We also step into mindset work that feels real. Instead of overpromising affirmations, we lean on grounded phrases like I inhale peace and exhale stress, placed where you’ll see them daily—on a mirror, in a journal, or even as shower-safe cards that keep you steady.

To close, we guide a full winter sanctuary visualization. You enter a place where warmth wraps around you, decisions pause, and your breath loosens the tightness you’ve been carrying. It’s a mental refuge you can revisit anytime: a cabin glow, a seaside hush, or a chair by a window where snow falls in silence. By the end, you’ll have a gentle toolkit for winter well-being, from sensory ambiance and mindful lighting to affirmations that actually help, plus a guided practice you can return to whenever you need deep rest.

If this resonated, subscribe for more seasonal well-being practices, share the episode with a friend who needs a softer winter, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

To learn more, go to mycreateharmony.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Winter Well-Being Focus
• 1:21 The Idea Of Adjusting Your View
• 2:06 Make The Window View Come Alive
• 3:31 Light, Candles, And Cozy Ambiance
• 4:35 TV Ambiance And Forest Mind
• 6:10 Affirmations To Shift Perspective
• 7:49 Guided Winter Sanctuary Visualization
• 14:13 Takeaways And Seasonal Subscription Boxes

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:03

Welcome back to the Create Harmony Podcast. Imagine that you have stepped into a place where the pace is unhurried, where the noise of the day begins to fade, and you can hear the soft rhythms of nature guiding your heart. We let the turning of the seasons shape our rhythms and remind us that everything has a season. So this is episode 159, and I am your host, Sally Burlington. And speaking of everything having a season, we are in the season here that we call winter well-being. We're getting pretty close to the end and we'll be changing gears, but right now we're still doing winter. We're doing winter well-being. And that's a time that we try to shift our focus to things that lift our spirits and bring us into more light on these cold, dark days of winter. So over the last few weeks, we've talked about making some space for quiet in our lives. We've talked about how to create winter gatherings with friends. And last week we talked about winter movement, how to get your body moving in different ways throughout the winter season. And there has been a whole lot of coziness woven into all of these episodes. So we are going to continue that today. Today we are going to discuss adjusting your view. So what does that mean? Well, I was reading this book called Living Well at Home by Jennifer Scott. And one of the points she made really resonated with me. What she said was when we go on vacation, we really value the view we get in our hotel or wherever we're staying. We stay somewhere, we can see a lovely view out the window. We don't really love it when our room is overlooking, you know, the parking lot or the roof or whatever. That is important. And she suggested that we think about this same thing when we are right at home. How can we make our in-air quote view lovely right at home? And that got me thinking, how could I do that? And I came up with a few ideas and I thought that it would be important to share that during winter well-being. So first of all, you can adjust your winter view out the window. We did this during the snow. We're just a simple bird feeder. Yes, I am old enough that I am talking about birds, talking about watching birds. But no matter what age you are, you can get yourself a bird feeder. And this doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be something that you maintain. You can get bird feeding ornaments or little bird feeding things that you hang outside that are like pressed together with suet. All you do, they're covered, you know, with seeds, all you do is just hang it out there. And then the birds come and they feast on your seeds and you just watch them and it adjusts your view. We did this, we we've had several winter storms during our winter here in North Carolina, and that's not something that happens all the time. So we're indoors a whole lot, and we put two little bird feeders outside right before the the storm storm first storm happened. The birds were going crazy getting ready for the winter storm, and then once it was really snowy, it's hard for them to find season things to eat. So they came and just it was it was great watching. It was great how we adjusted our view. So we here's another idea to adjust your view. We talked about this when we were talking about the cozy vibes around our house. I'm a big fan of winter lighting, adding some candles, battery-operated candles, or fairy lights, or whatever you need to set the mood of your space. That will adjust your view. Maybe you would just want to add a candle to your desk. Or you could like get a candle warmer if you can't have the flame of the candle. You can buy those candle warmer things. It's basically like a little lamp with a hot bulb that then heats the wax of the candle. You get the look and feel of the candle, but you don't have an open flame, so you can smell it. That'd be a great way for you to adjust your view in the winter. You can then see your um candle burning, and you get to engage more than one sense of the job because you also get to smell the candle. Or if you want to, I like those battery-operated candles, the kinds that have the little flames that go back and forth because it makes you feel like there's a real fire there. And like I set mine on timers, they come on every day. It just sort of sets a mood and adjusts my view. So that is a good way to adjust your winter view. Now, the simplest way, here is the very simplest way is that you could just turn on some ambiance on TV. And this is kind of like, you know, when you turn on like Yule Log and you see the fire. Well, there are many, many, many more options than Yule log on YouTube. There are, if you put in the words, you know, winter ambiance or summer ambiance or vacation ambiance, you could transport yourself to a tropical island and you will then see, you know, an AI-generated image with like the soft waves flowing and birds singing and you know, all sorts of things. This sounds silly. I know you were thinking, well, this isn't this is a kooky idea, but I promise you, if you put that on your TV when you are in a room, it is calming. It is funny how that has an effect on us. We had we were doing that a little bit before bed each night, just turning on the same ambiance, and it just makes the room seem soft and calm and quiet. And if you have kids and you want to do this with kids, I found this um ambiance thing, and it's called forest mind, except it is spelled F-O-R-R-E-S-T, and they do it like for rest mind. So you get it, forest mind. And it's basically these like woodland creatures in their little habitats. And so it feels like you're literally watching a little hedgehog in their little house, you know, reading a book or drinking tea or whatever it is. And it's just so cozy and cute. So just check that out. You could adjust your view in that way. Um, those are all some different ways to adjust your view. So my last idea is a little less literal and a little bit more figurative. So it's like a figurative view. So I'm a big fan of affirmations. I've talked about this in the past. I like to use affirmations, they're basically just reminders of ways that we can retrain our brain to focus on certain things. I don't particularly love the kind of affirmations where you write down, you know, I'm perfect and nothing bad ever happens to me. Those are not really my jam. But things that you find inspiring, you can write those in your journal. Or I have found I bought at Petal and Pink something called shower affirmations, and they're basically these little cards that stick on the wall of your shower while you are taking a shower each day, and they have phrases on them. Or like little affirmations on them. There are lots of different themes. The one that I bought is is like called grounding. The theme is grounding. So all of the things written, all of the affirmations in there are like things that make you feel more grounded. So for example, one of them says, I inhale peace and exhale stress. And another one says, Every breath I take cleanses away all fear and doubt. So, you know, those are just some inspiring things. You just stick them up on the wall. They they stay up there as long as your wall stays wet, they stay up there, and you can put them, you can change out one every day, whatever. Just adjust the view that you have during your shower, and that sort of lifts your spirits. You can do all of those things and stay more cozy during the winter season. So for our closing today, we're gonna do a visualization. So we're gonna adjust our view inside of our own minds. You get what I did there? I'm gonna lead you. You're gonna adjust your view in your own head just by following my voice. So we're gonna shift into our mindful posture. That means you're gonna try to release any tension that you feel yourself holding. You're gonna maybe shake your shoulders out, wiggle your fingers and your toes. You're gonna settle yourself into something that's comfortable. Perhaps it would be stillness. If it makes sense for you to close your eyes right now, you can do that and begin to take a deep breath. With each breath, you can feel yourself arriving. And you're imagining yourself stepping into a quiet winter landscape. The air is crisp, the world feels hushed, and in the distance you see your winter sanctuary. Maybe it's a small cabin, maybe it's a coastal cottage, a lighthouse, whatever place forms naturally in your mind. Winter Sanctuary. Now as you approach your winter sanctuary, you notice how safe and welcoming it feels. This is a place that exists only to shelter you, to offer you rest, to offer you peace. You open the door and step inside. You leave the cold behind, and warmth surrounds you. A fire glows quietly. The air smells comforting. Maybe it's wood or tea or something familiar and soothing. Set them down. There is nothing you need to carry here. You find a place to settle, in a cozy nook, maybe it's a chair, the blanket near the fire, a window, the beautiful view, the winter sea, or a snow-covered landscape. Let your body sink into comfort. Nothing is required of you. No decisions, no tending to others, no becoming. Here you are allowed to rest completely. Soak up that deep rest. With each inhale, imagine warmth spreading through your body. With each exhale, release the things you've been holding. Tension, worry, old stories. Let them soften and dissolve. This sanctuary holds your winter wisdom. The wisdom of slowing down, of conserving energy, of trusting rest. You do not need to fix or figure out anything here. It is a time for listening. Notice how you feel protected in your winter sanctuary. And know that this sanctuary is always available to you. You can return at any time. When you feel ready, take another deep breath. Bring your awareness back to your body. Before you leave, take one last look around your sanctuary. Notice the warmth and the stillness. Now bring your awareness back to the place that you started. And when it feels right, you can open your eyes. Hopefully, you were inspired by those different ideas of making your the view that you see, even either in your mind or with your eyes, more appealing to you. And you can always revisit that winter sanctuary that we talked about. That is creating a view in your mind. You can always revisit that anytime you need it. Before we go, I'm going to remind you of our seasonal subscription boxes. If you liked creating a visual in your mind of something peaceful and calming like we did during the winter sanctuary, then our seasonal subscription boxes are perfect for you. We have five meditations in each box, and they are very similar to the winter sanctuary one. It feels like a place that you go, stepping away from the stress of your life, and it gives you calm and relaxation. And in addition, with each box, you get other cozy items that are provided by Petal and Pink Mental Wellness Boutique. And they're always one of a kind, different, unique things. There are four boxes every quarter. If you want to learn more about that, you can go to mycreateharmony.com and find out all about it. And thanks again for joining us. Until next time, peace,