Happy December! This time of the year is all about the light. Chanukah is called the Festival of Lights, with eight nights of candle lighting to commemorate the miracle of the oil. Kwanzaa is celebrated by lighting seven candles to represent the seven principles. Houses and trees are decked in holiday lights. And Jesus was born under the light of the star of Bethlehem. Everywhere you look, there are candles and fires, beckoning us toward the light and the warmth.
But in nature, this is the darkest time of the year.
This offers us a beautiful invitation to go inward to tend our own light.
If we’re feeling confident, creative, appreciated, it’s pretty easy to tap into our own glowing goodness. We radiate love and compassion, for ourselves and others. And our shining light reflects back to other people, creating an even bigger light.
But what about when sadness, grief, frustration, even hopelessness, overwhelm us, and we feel no light.
Even if your light is not roaring in radiant flame, it is still burning. It may be just a tiny glow of an ember, but it is there, offering a spark of hope. It may be a faint flicker, but it is alight because you are alive.
And if you fan the flame with a single spoken gratitude, the smallest of thank you’s, I promise you, the light will spark. And the more you can focus on what tiny goodnesses there are, the more that light will grow.
And when your light grows, the light around you grows. And, as corny as it sounds, one day you’ll look up and notice you are no longer huddled in darkness. You are shining, radiating, basking in the richest, truest light that is all of us.
I invite you to take some quiet time and feel into what warms your heart, what helps you feel authentic and loved. When do you feel most connected to who you truly are?
How do you spark your own light?
How do you spark the light in others?
How do others spark the light in you?
I invite you to tell someone how they shine in your life. Maybe even brave up and ask them how you shine in theirs. We are all sources and reflectors of love and light, and the more we shine, the more our world shines.
May you find your light, embrace your light, and shine your light in the world.
And may we see each other’s light, and help each other shine.
May this season fill you and your world with love and light.
With big, big love and gratitude,
P.S.
Before you rush into the new year, I invite you to take some deep time to reflect on this past year. Look back on all that you have been, done, and become. Notice how you have shifted, expanded, and grown.
Where were you brave?
What was easy?
Who did you ask for help?
How did you surprise yourself?
How did you offer your support?
Where did you show up fully as yourself?
What was your biggest motivation?
Where did you get stuck?
How did you move forward?
Where did you make a difference?
What has been your deepest Why?
How will you celebrate yourself for all that you have lived this year?
I’d love to hear your answers.
