Beautiful Being!
It’s Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere which means today is our shortest day and longest night of the year.
For many religions and cultures over the ages, Winter Solstice was a vital turning point. After many months of the sun gradually (and scarily) “disappearing”, the solstice’s passing meant the return of the life-giving sunlight with the days getting longer again!
But before we charge into celebrating the rebirth of the sun, I think its important that we fully honor and experience today’s longest night because it can hold many treasures.
This longest night and the winter season that follows is the time when nature stills and goes inward, and it’s the perfect time for us to do the same.
Tonight, and over the next couple of weeks, try to give yourself permission to get quiet and reflect. To cozy up, nurturing your instinct to hibernate and restore. To let go of the effort and just be.
To observe the Winter Solstice tonight, you could…
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- Turn off all the lights (and electronics!) and spend a few minutes sitting and slowly breathing into the dark. Imagine it as a soothing blanket surrounding you.
- Take a slow quiet walk, tuning into the stillness and connecting to the trees that have gone dormant above ground but whose roots continue to grow in search of nourishment.
- In candlelight and quiet, write about how you’ve grown in this past year and what you are ready to let die and leave behind.
- Take a few minutes to breathe into the pain/darkness you’ve been carrying. Or put some music on and express it through movement. Giving yourself space to fully feel your pain is the key to moving through it. As Kahlil Gibran said: One may not reach the dawn save by the path of night.
Learning to be with the dark and embrace the winter helps us open to the richness of this wild, precious life year-round…and not just when the conditions are perfect.
Wondrous Solstice to you, Dearest!
P.S. if you’re in the southern hemisphere…Happy Summer Solstice, you lucky devil! 😉
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Word of the Year Workshop
Tues., Jan. 15, 2019 – Toronto
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