Sometimes we just need to stop, feel, and let it all unravel. Just like nature does at this time of the year. This time of year, the land becomes dormant, the trees naked, the birds silent. At the same time, deep underneath the soil decays, matures, and gets ready for the inevitable new growth.

With the Winter Solstice (meaning “stillness of the sun”), the earth’s northern hemisphere reminds us of intimacy with darkness, and silence and stillness, in times when we don’t know the way forward. Darkness is the landscape of the deeper senses that do not find expression in struggle and achievement, small talk, or social media posts but in inner maturation and fruition.

Healing trauma means becoming familiar with the darker side of our experience, learning to notice and allow the discomfort of anger, sadness, confusion. Yes—these too are messengers from the depth of our heart! Living through a pandemic is not easy, remember to take a moment and welcome the feelings that lay underneath.

Everyone can become seduced by light, illumination, expansion, and perhaps miss on letting life shake up, undo, and decompose our linear thinking and accumulated knowledge. This process is also valuable and forces us to be still and to listen. 

As we celebrate the return of longer daylight, let’s also remember to honor darkness for the stillness, maturation, and inner strength it brings to our lives.