I started on audio and finished later on kindle.
The author/narrator is fine, but it’s too repetitive for me and I want to be able to go through it quicker for key points. I do feel like overall, I was surprised by several new ideas and ways people celebrate winter

She is a Stanford-trained scientist who went to Tromsø, Norway, 200 miles north of the arctic circle to experience winter, because she and many others dread the season. She found that people there have about the same levels of seasonal affective disorder as other places (instead of higher rates), so she wondered what caused them to have healthy “winter well-being,” and “winter was the best season,” “something people look forward to,” “to be enjoyed, not endured.” (Quotes from prelude)

In the book, she gives suggestions for others to “change their mindsets and embrace winter.”
“…how we approach winter is a pretty good litmus test for how we approach other dark, difficult seasons in our lives. How do we respond to situations out of our control? How do we react to circumstances we did not choose? Do we shrink and wither, or do we turn inward with intention and cultivate moments of joy? Do we focus on frustration, or do we seek wonder and connection to get us through?” (Introduction)

Parts of the book echo much of Wintering by Katherine May, which I loved. While that book was a personal experience, this was written for research. So in addition to her experience, she includes those of others in locations around the world.

Part 1:  Appreciate Winter / noticing nature
“If we believe that winter is boring, we are more likely to notice the times we feel bored. If we believe that winter is fascinating, we are more likely to notice the parts of winter that are engaging. One of the ways mindsets become self-fulfilling is by directing our attention, making us more likely to observe winter’s negatives or positives.” Ch 3

Ch 4:
“Útilykt is a special Icelandic word: translated directly, it means “out-smell.” It’s the scent that clings to your clothes and hair after returning inside from outdoors.” 
- “the weather outside unites us.”
-“If, instead of telling us to “stay inside” because “it’s gonna be a cold one,” the weather forecasters told us to “get ready for a cozy weekend.”
- “freeze-dry your laundry outside. Through sublimation—in which solid, frozen water evaporates directly into a gas—wet things freeze and then dry quickly and beautifully in subfreezing temperatures. This is also the science behind freeze-dried food!”

Part 2: Make it Special (nights, lights, and rites)

Ch 5 - mood
“We found that in American storybooks, best-selling storybooks, the characters show more of these open, toothy, what we call these ‘excitement smiles,’ whereas in the Taiwanese best-selling storybooks, more of these characters showed these closed, smaller, what we call ‘calm smiles.’ ” 
…
“We internalize them without even being aware of it, and then we reproduce them,”

- creating hygge 
- taking awe walks. These participants were told to “tap into your childlike sense of wonder” and to “approach what you see with fresh eyes.”

Ch 6 nights, lights and rites
-“Rather than pushing against the darkness, ask yourself: What is better in the dark?”
-“Why I Adore the Night,” by Jeanette Winterson
- The simple act of being around fire, as it becomes more of a luxury and less of a necessity in our modern world, is its own kind of celebration. Treating it as a sacred time—whether over a candlelit dinner or gathered around a hearth—is an opportunity to bring mindful attention to long winter nights.
-using natural materials like birch bark rather than artificial fire starters, paper, or cardboard, to make the fire more connected to nature
- making a sunset tea tray, with a hot drink and a little treat
- rituals provide connection at four levels: with ourselves, with each other, with nature, and with the transcendent. 
- Jólabókaflóð: the Christmas book flood, Christmas Eve … exchange books and then spend the evening reading and drinking hot chocolate,

Part 3: Get Outside

Ch 7  creating short term goals, self-compassion and companionship outside 
“Henrik Ibsen in 1859, friluftstliv, directly translated, means “open air life.”

Ch 8 (hot and cold swims)

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict called the Japanese bath “one of the best loved minor pleasures of the body.”