Today is the Winter Solstice- the day with the least amount of sunlight in the entire year! As I was doing my yoga sun salutations this morning I thought about this and realized the winter solstice has deep meaning to me.
Scientifically, we recognize this as the day that the sun is at the most southern point in the sky. It actually happened at 7:44am MST, so just a few moments ago. At that very minute the sun stopped moving southward and began to move north. In Latin solstice means “sun stands still”. After the winter solstice the minutes of sunshine get longer each day. So there you have the scientific meaning and look at that– I just found one reason I studied Latin in High School!
Sunshine is a big deal to me. I need it. I love it. This time of year it’s tough for many people not having as much sunshine in a day. We can see the rise in depression and sadness.It is interesting to me that the winter solstice is just a few days before we celebrate the birth of Christ. Spiritually I realize that when we are at our darkest moments,Christ is just around the corner. The Solstice and the birth of Christ are both symbols to me of returning light back to the earth.
I have had a few times in my life where I was low- far from sunshine, light and happiness. One time was 8 years ago today. I remember being in my yoga class and we did sun salutations the whole hour to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Yoga was about the only time that I stopped and went inside myself because the hurt was deep and I cried through most of class. I was so sad as my little family planned our first Christmas without their dad and I was dreading Christmas. Once again a miracle happened and on Christmas Day the light was brought to me and my kids by the service of many people. They truly brought the light of Christ to us and the sun felt like it stood still, shining upon us. There have been other times when I felt the world was dark and I prayed and felt loving arms from heaven around me.
There are a lot of things in life that we can’t change, but we CAN change our meaning of it. You can choose to look at things from the bright side. I have learned to change my attitude about a lot of stuff- even people or the saddest of situations and turn it around as a learning experience and find good in it. I challenge you to try this- look at a hard situation and find something you learned. I believe this is why we are here on earth is to experience, learn and grow from everything.
My prayer for you is that you will remember when you are at the lowest, darkest time there is hope. Don’t give up– there is more light on its way.
What can you do when you feel like you are in darkness? To pick yourself up and feel this light, do service and/or be grateful. I know this sounds too easy or cliche, but it is scientific- you cannot feel gratitude and fear at the same time. So start saying everything you are grateful for even simple things like water, air, and yes, sunshine. Then watch as the darkness MELTS away.