What’s waiting for you in this darkness?

It’s almost the Winter Solstice… the darkest time of the year.

Over the thousands of years before electricity made us forget what darkness gave, most folks weren’t going to twinkling holiday parties in mid-December.

Instead it’s likely they used this darkening time to rest, to take stock.

How was the harvest this year?

What grew well, and what should I do differently next spring year?

So many years later, no matter how modern and productive we may be, the season’s darkness is here
to do its work in us.

All those lights make it easy to avoid though.

“I’m so busy, busy, busy during the holidays.“

“Not you, too, Kristin!?“

The bah humbugs are bound to take over and all these flickering lights and ho ho ho’s just make it more intense.

Years ago I called my brand of late autumn struggle Seasonal Affective Disorder. And it’s true that sunshine helps.

But I’m discovering that there’s clarity waiting in the dark.

What if we haven’t evolved so far as we think. What if, like our ancestors, what we need most right now is time to take the year in?

To look back.
To be quiet.
To listen to our inner knowing.
To decide what needs to shift so we’re ready for Spring and what wants to bloom.

With the Winter Solstice approaching on December 21, here’s the question I’m asking now…

Where do I want to be 13 weeks from now?
How do I want to feel when Spring arrives this March?

Lately I’ve begun to ponder and plan my work and life over the 13 weeks of each season. Instead of the pressure of a New Year’s resolution, before each equinox and solstice I give myself the following powerful inquiry and I gather with other woman for a Retreat Day.

I create space for these precious few weeks of dark time to feed me.
Maybe I’ll find a few moments as the morning’s late sun begins to rise,
or I’ll make space just as it’s beginning to go dark outside.

I bring my journal,
light a candle,
And just sit, gazing out the window for a bit.

Then I ask into the darkness…

What change wants to come?
What’s begun that I want to feed?
What needs to drop away so I can live my joy?
What do I most want my life to feel like on the Spring equinox in March?

I wait. . . until the answers find me.

This is the time to make yourself the priority you need to be in order to move with purpose and joy into what’s really your deepest desire for the new year.

What if you gave yourself the gift of quiet darkness over the next few weeks?

Or, if you’d like, I can help.

If you’ve been doubting your light, Dear One, I want to hold a candle to help light your way.
It’s not my candle though. It’s yours.
Together let’s reignite what’s always been within you.

With so much love,