Why is the stillness of winter so complete?
At no other time of the year is there such silence in nature. All other seasons of the year animals make their presence known, no matter what time of day or night it is. 
Not true in winter.

I walk outside, in the woods or even in my neighborhood, with the sun beaming down through the chill air. Silence.
No birds twitter, no dogs bark.
Just me, and the silence.

Today, meditate on solitude – and the stillness – silence – of winter.

“Away, away from men and towns,
To the wild wood and the downs, —
To the silent wilderness,
where the soul need not repress
Its music.”
–Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To Jane, The Invitation”

“To have passed through life and never experienced solitude is to never have known oneself. To have never known oneself is to have never known anyone.”
–Joseph Wood Krutch, The Desert Year

“She came to the desert after seeing her gaunt face in the mirror, the pallor that comes when everything is going out and nothing is coming in.”
–Terry Tempest Williams, Coyote’s Canyon

“Solitude is a thing we crave.”
–Rick Bass, The Book of Yaak