The Gift of Darkness

Darkness.
A space of quiet, tender stillness in which we meet our deeper selves.

I will face it all. Bring it all out into the light. Everything that has been hiding in the dark. The dark has held it. Thank you. You are beautiful. And now the dark joins the light and becomes whole. I become whole. I remember I am whole. I will sing myself love songs. Songs that will embrace you all as well. As you sing your love songs to you. And we make the most beautiful music together. Music that move stars to join and mountains to cry healing tears. We sing our songs of love for ourselves. And the world heals. *

In the part of the world where I live we are fast approaching Winter Solstice, the darkest time of the year. As night fills more space than day.

Darkness. A space that evokes so much fear that our collective is trying to disappear it, filling our world with artificial light, artificial noise and abundant distraction.

What is it in darkness that we are running from? What precious parts of ourselves are we leaving behind as we do? Tender parts of ourselves waiting for us to welcome them home. Feelings of sadness, shame, loneliness, fear longing to be witnessed and released. Hopes and dreams yearning to express, that we came into the world knowing were possible and had to temporarily forget.

It is understandable that we have hidden parts of ourselves away, out of fear or shame. And you no longer have to settle for living separate and small. You get to bring everything out into light and shine love and compassion on every part of you. You get to do this hand-in-hand with others. We need not walk alone.

As wise Winnie the Pooh reminds us, “You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

What we fear often holds what we most truly need. Precious gifts for our personal and collective healing transformation. Our fear is usually much louder in anticipation than in the journey through. The journey may feel quite uncomfortable along the way, yet what awaits us on the other side is so worth it. We can return to relationship with darkness and all we have hidden away there. We are made of dark and light, both beautiful, and together they make us whole.

Remembrance of who we are.
Remembrance that we are not alone. Remembrance of all that is possible.
Remembrance of how to breathe our wildest hopes, dreams and selves Into full life.
What a world it would be if we did.
What a world it is becoming as we do.
What visions of that world move in you? I would love you to share them with me here.

"Only in the darkness can you see the stars." - Martin Luther King Jr.

*These words came through me during a powerful healing retreat led by beloved Tamara Staudt and other gems this summer.