2019 Winter Issue

“Love is a state of being, your love is not outside. It is deep within you. You can never lose it and it cannot leave you. It is not dependant on some other body, some external form. In the stillness of your presence you can feel your own formless and timeless reality as the unmanifested life that animates your physical form. You can then feel the same life deep within every other human.”

– Eckhart Tolle

by jennifer schofield

5 Min read

Keeping the Light Within

Dear Clients,

Outside my office in the twilight I feel the cold snap of almost-winter wind on my face.

I give it a Yes.

Beyond the rushed hum of Yonge street traffic, dried leaves are descending back into the earth as compost. Animal and insect life are following hibernation and other patterns of their life cycles.

At this part of the globe the daylight hours grow shorter under the growing blanket of night. December 21 at around 4:43 pm the sun will set beginning the longest night of the year. The northern hemisphere’s tilt away from the sun is at its maximum.

In ancient times the winter solstice was marked by symbols and celebration. It was a time to feast on the last harvest before the long winter. It is still a time for rituals that preserve and protect the light against the looming darkness.

Issue 2 - Realize your potential - Page Image - Snowy Hill

Are we not as humans still connected to the patterns and seasons of the sun which create light and darkness? City life may get busy with distractions, errands, shopping, and the endless rushing that buzzes around us. The pace of life increases while our bodies, hearts, and minds are getting stressed and weary. Our bodies and the nature around us is telling us what is needed.

This is a time of darkness and that is ok. Without darkness there cannot be light.

The darkness is the painful, unknown places inside us. It is the swirling fears that you dare not investigate that feed and fuel patterns of anxious living. Darkness is loneliness and abandonment and not belonging. Darkness is pain from the past that you can barely name or speak of. Darkness is death and grief.

Issue 2 - Realize your potential - Page Image - Birds and Fish

Instead of avoiding and distracting from what is wrong. Accept that there is darkness there. There is pain.

When you let yourself be aware of emotional pain you shine a light on it.
It may still be there, but you are now a bit more separated from the vice of its grip. You no longer need to run from it or have it run your life.

Ancient rituals such as the burning of a log or a candle can symbolize not only the light of hope but the death of what was.

It is the death of the past and the old year to make way for the birth of a new one. It is a time to deal with the old, outdated stories, ideas, patterns, and parts of our self that we no longer need and burn them.

Is there not an urge to hibernate? This mental health professional recommends everyone enjoy a family staycation pyjama day.

This is a good time for going into the dark cave, for rest, for reflection. The stillness of winter slows us and tells us to pause.

Issue 2 - Realize your potential - Page Image - Snowy Window

Where will you find your inner light in this long night? How will you preserve hope for yourself, for others and for the future?

Perhaps you will gather near people to share food, warmth, and compassion. Perhaps you will keep the light burning through meditation, prayer, spirituality or religious practices that are meaningful to you.

Perhaps you will simply pause to take in the winter moment that is happening all around you and that you are a part of.

Perhaps you will just sleep.

My hope as I write this is that you find the small light that never goes out within yourself. As you read this, let it be a sign for you to look for it.

May that light keep you and those you care about warm and safe through the dark days of winter.

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