Today is the winter solstice, the day of the year with the least sunlight that marks the turning of the tide back towards longer days. The solstice has been marked and honored by a wide range of peoples since ancient times. This year, the symbolism feels all the more needed and fitting. In a year of so much darkness for so many, hope feels like it may be cresting on the horizon. The article does a beautiful job illustrating some ancient and modern reflections on the solstice tradition and symbolism. I find it to be a truly fitting symbol for therapeutic work.
“The great irony of winter is that the moment darkness is greatest is also the moment light is about to return. Each year the winter solstice comes with the promise that the next day will be brighter.”
In moments of our deepest struggles, how do we recall the other times we were most in the dark, only to find the light was awaiting us right around the corner? How can we pull from this knowledge year after year in times of our most profound despair?
This year, most of us are slowing way down, safe at home with little to do nor places to go. How can we use this time for what it is versus being in resistance to it? This season is the season of retreat and rest, it is also the season that tests our very existence with the harshest conditions. I keep reminding my clients that this is not a time for maximizing productivity, this is a time of survival.
“I’ve stopped trying to handle the darkness. I let the darkness handle me instead. Most of the time all it wants to do is hold me for a while — slow me down, keep me from running, cover me up long enough to remember that being in the dark doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me. It means I’m alive, and this is part of the deal.”
Wishing you a peaceful day of darkness, warm in the knowledge that light is coming.