What we can learn from the Winter Solstice
Today marks the halfway point of the darkness, the start of astronomical winter. It is the shortest day of the year, so where I live there will be 7hours, 41minutes of daylight. I love daylight, I don’t like getting up whilst it’s still dark and as for the night’s drawing in halfway through the afternoon, that’s just not for me.
For this reason, I was never much of a fan of the Winter Solstice when I was younger, but now I see it as a very special day. It holds the promise that the sun will return and we will get warmer, brighter days ahead and things will grow again. Although the change to daylight hours in the following days will be tiny, it is enough for me to know that they are there.
This time of year, the darkness encourages us to turn inwards and become reflective, whilst the New Year cries out for changes to be made, goals to be set, new dreams to be dreamt. Whilst we are doing our reflecting and our goal setting, we need to learn from the sun. Come the Winter Solstice, it doesn’t make sudden, huge changes, instead it makes the tiniest of changes each day and little by little it gets to where it needs to be. Looking back, we are likely to be in a hugely different place (mentally, physically &/or emotionally) to where we were this time last year. Some of this difference may have been intentional and noticeable, but some of it may have snuck up on you and that’s fine too. So, if your goals feel huge and unsurmountable, don’t be put off. Break them down into smaller, doable chunks and you’ll still get to the big goal in the end (if you need help with doing this, take a look at Your Goals Journal).
Celebrations marking the winter solstice and the ‘return’ of the sun have been carried out by cultures around the world for thousands of years and many of the old traditions have influenced how we celebrate things like Christmas and Hanukkah. My house is full of fairy lights and candles at the moment so the dark doesn’t seem so absolute. I’ve got greenery and fir cone decorations up and of course the tree, each breaking up the darkness.
Today might be the shortest day and longest night, but this time of year, is a good reminder for all of us that change, no matter how small, if it’s consistent, will make a difference to everything and that is true for us too. It also reminds us, that however dark it gets it will get lighter again and in the meantime, if you look carefully enough, there are the tiniest glimmers of light all around us. So, hold onto them tightly and they’ll carry you through.
