We have reached the second week of 2018 and by now we have two extra minutes of daylight per day (one morning and one evening).
It is interesting how many people long for “the longer day” at this time of year. We notice the brighter mornings and the day light stretch further into the evening.
You see, we are all naturally creatures of the light. Just like tiny winged creature, we gravitate towards the light.
Darkness becomes beautiful only when patterned by fragments of light. We look for the stars in the night sky, the reflection of moonlight on the water, or the glowing cityscape at night. We travel to watch lightening dancing on the water, or to see a fireworks display or to catch a glimpse of the great Northern Lights.
We look for the light far outside ourselves, without often recognising that the greatest light of all is the internal radiant light that shines from within us. In Shakti Gawain’s book, Living in the Light, she tells us that
The more light you allow within you, the brighter the world you live in will be.
She equates this wonderful inner light to a deep wisdom we have within, but sometimes we don’t know we have it.
The first moment announcing your presence on the earth is the moment that you emerge from the darkness of the womb, and into the light.
At this time of year when every conversation seems to return to the topic of New Year’s resolutions and goal setting, my invitation to you is to focus on letting your internal light shine brighter and brighter each day.
As we gain two minutes of natural day light each day, could you focus on increasing the light you bring to your own life and the lives of those around you by two minutes per day?
Light reflects light. As you give your own light permission to shine, you attract and reflect the wonderful light in others.
As you focus on increasing the light you emit, you will find that you will reflect more and more of the brilliant light that rests within the people in your life.
…and when you look into the eyes and heart of those people,
May [your] eyes have the kindness
And reverence of candlelight.
For Light – John O’Donoghue
Light cannot see inside things.
That is what the dark is for:
Minding the interior,
Nurturing the draw of growth
Through places where death
In its own way turns into life.
In the glare of neon times,
Let our eyes not be worn
By surfaces that shine
With hunger made attractive.
That our thoughts may be true light,
Finding their way into words
Which have the weight of shadow
To hold the layers of truth.
That we never place our trust
In minds claimed by empty light,
Where one-sided certainties
Are driven by false desire.
When we look into the heart,
May our eyes have the kindness
And reverence of candlelight.
That the searching of our minds
Be equal to the oblique
Crevices and corners where
The mystery continues to dwell,
Glimmering in fugitive light.
When we are confined inside
The dark house of suffering
That moonlight might find a window.
When we become false and lost
That the severe noon-light
Would cast our shadow clear.
When we love, that dawn-light
Would lighten our feet
Upon the waters.
As we grow old, that twilight
Would illuminate treasure
In the fields of memory.
And when we come to search for God,
Let us first be robed in night,
Put on the mind of morning
To feel the rush of light
Spread slowly inside
The colour and stillness
Of a found word.