The sun is slowly setting, the geese are singing in the distance, and the shadows are growing.
It is winter.
Not only is winter a time of rest, it’s also an opportunity for us to prepare for renewal. In winter, we are beckoned to reflect and look inward and pause. We are given an opportunity to think about our lives and take a look at what’s really going on before we move into the time of the seasonal birthing and creation.
As the shadows join us in winter, this too becomes a powerful time — to welcome and step into the shadow…the dark, hidden and unmanifested alter-ego of the self. Looking away, ignoring or running from the shadow does not prevent it from coming — it may actually intensify its power. There is much wisdom to be taken, and as Deepak Chopra said in the book The Shadow Effect: “If we fail to take responsibility and extract wisdom that has been hidden beneath the surface of our conscious mind, the shadow will take charge.” The shadow exists to help us learn important life lessons and grow.
It feels appropriately synchronistic that we are moving into a time to reflect on the shadows of our lives and our world. All too often we fear the shadow. We have a chance to shed light on the shadow—our shadow. Individually and collectively shining light on the shadow both takes away from its power and can turn it to be used for a greater good: spreading love and joy. “It’s not in denying the presence of our shadow, but in shedding light on the shadow that its self-sabotaging effects begin to disappear.”
It was the Light of the Force, the pure Love, that eventually turned the shadow of Darth Vader back to the Light.
As I listen to the chattering geese, it sounds strangely similar to the squawking of my friends and family as they chatter about their displeasures and fears about our world. The shadow has arrived. Each of us is a Light. We are imbued in and with the Light of the Universe. It is in this recognition that we are able to both face and shine light on the shadow. Learn from it, grow our Selves, and use the power of Love to shine the Light. As the great philosophers, The Beatles have said:
“And in the end,
The Love you take
Is equal to the Love you make.”
Affirmation: I am surrounded in Love and Light knowing that I am guided in this time of growth to my best and highest possible good.
Treatment: Take this moment to pause. Take this moment to be and breathe. And in this breath and pause there is Spirit. There is Love. In all moments there is Spirit. It is in our breath, it is in this silence, it is in everything that is around us…surrounding each of us.
Knowing this brings a smile to my face as I also know for each of us our absolute connection to Spirit.. It is in the hearing and feeling that we notice and feel this connection. It is present, it is deep, and it is Spirit. We are connected…there can only be this pure togetherness.
Within this connection there is an understanding of what is. What I know is a patient understanding and allowing for Love to unfold. Fear and shadow are dissolved in shining this Light. Within this communion with Spirit, I receive a deep knowing that the Light shines. My understanding is the Light, my Love is the Light, and any action I participate in is the Light. Each of us shines with limitless Light and Love of Spirit.
Such gratitude grows within me. There is gratitude with this time, with this understanding, and a deep gratitude for this active knowing.
It is in filling myself with this love-filled gratitude that I simply release this into the Law. It is in this release that I stand firm in knowing that Spirit is in action. Spirit is action. I know this to be so, I surrender to this and simply allow for Spirit. And in co-acting, I let this go and lock it in by saying …
And So It Is.