Joy, thank you for this article. I was just speaking with a friend the other day about how we need both life-filled and dormant periods in life.  If we are "up" all the time, we become manic, unbalanced.  What's more, without the emotional 'winters,' we miss out on some amazing self-reflection, poetry, and conversations that seem to only happen in the melancholy times.  Your article got me thinking about the trees. It's almost like God is sending us a message every fall: "It's ok to lose your leaves every once in a while. It's natural."  Accepting that in myself helps me keep my branches through the cold months.