Let Your Light Shine
Commercial light display, (photo by Ann Linnea)
Commercial lighting, (photo by Ann Linnea)
Lights add so much to this dark time of the year in the northern hemisphere. November’s lingering foliage on birch and willow has been mostly blown off the trees by December’s storms. The prevailing colors of our landscape here are gray/green/brown. People in the Pacific Northwest talk about the arrival of The Big Dark. Our daylength is less than eight hours long. And if you count the general gloominess of the prevailing weather, it can seem like we are living in unrelenting shadow.
We seek the light. Inside are candles and twinkling light strings adorning plants and corners, decorated trees, lamps set to glowing, and fires in the hearth. Outside holiday lights outline houses, doorways, driveways, landscaping. I like to think that all this attention to small and beautiful lights inspires me and the people around me to tend to the small and beautiful gestures that light our way through winter shadows. A kind stranger opens the post office door for me, a neighbor brings over a baked treat, or one of my sisters calls.
Our mantle lights, (photo by Ann Linnea)
Our outside bush lights, (photo by Ann Linnea)
People helping people in challenging times
And this year, we not only have The Big Dark, but we are also experiencing record breaking flooding all over western Washington—The Great Flood. In the midst of natural disaster, stories of mutual aid rise as fast as river waters: neighbors help neighbors, rescue workers risk their lives for strangers, people sandbag homes and businesses located in 100-year flood plains, farm animals arrive at the county fairgrounds, and in an amazing few hours, an animal shelter found foster homes for 120 cats and dogs. The goodness of human beings helping one another in challenging times shines incredible light into dark moments. What’s happening here—and so many places in the world is that “first responders” are ordinary folks stepping into the needs that show up. When we change our day for our community, we mend the larger picture of what’s going wrong to what’s going right.
Rescue of a family in Snohomish, WA (photo by Ken Lambert, Seattle Times)
Placing sandbags at the Sultan, WA post office (photo by Nick Wagner, Seattle Times)
A-very-shy-husky-mix-being-consoled-at-the-Everett-Animal-Center-before-being-placed-with-a-family (photo by Karen Ducey, Seattle-times).
Connect to the more than just human world
I have also been gratified to hear radio and television reports that include Nature in the scope of disaster. How the Chinook salmon eggs in all our rivers where the run just completed are being destroyed by raging currents, how trees are being swept downstream, how Puget Sound is being muddied and afloat with logs and toxic debris. Nature cannot move out of the way of its own forces. There is no shelter from its own storms.
Never underestimate the importance of appreciation. Whether you live in a snowy environment or you are in the far south, take time to step outside. What plants or animals do you see? One of the first things I hear outside this time of the year are hundreds of robins singing their happy chirpy songs as they feed on the beautiful red/orange berries of the evergreen madrone trees. Abundance of robins. Abundance of berries. There is abundance of food and life outside my window even if at superficial glance it seems dreary and even lifeless.
Ripe berries of the evergreen madrone tree that so many robins eat this time of the year, (photo by Ann Linnea)
Tend to something outdoors—a hummingbird or seed or suet feeder, even a weather station. Or make daily observations of something out your window—a given time of the day watching your bird bath for squirrel or bird activity. Appreciation and observation are important gifts to the world even, if they are not verbal.
My invitation to you if you are feeling overwhelmed and discouraged by today’s news cycles is to step outside yourself and find a way to light up the world around you—literally a candle or the extension of kindness—whether it is your partner, your pet, your neighbor, your local clerk, your healthcare worker or your wildlife. It certainly will make YOU feel better.
Our Christmas tree, just put up this very night before I head into the city for hip surgery. (photo by Ann Linnea)
Dear Ann, thank you for your reminders to be present to the joy and abundance Nature gives. I miss the hummingbirds and know they will be back in April. In the meantime we do our best to support the feathered friends in our snow covered land. The bears prohibit us from feeding birds from May to November after destroying 3 substantial feeders. Now Ann I am sending you love and healing energy for your recovery from hip surgery. Wishing you and Christina a restful holiday season.
Dear Sharon, Appreciate your reminder about the world of the far north in winter, including the bears. Good thing they hibernate so you can feed birds in the winter when they really need the extra help! Thanks for your good wishes, Ann
Lovely, Ann – a wonderful reminder of the light that is always here, even in the dark….perhaps especially in the dark because it is more clearly seen then….
Blessings, Barbara
Appreciate your kind words, Barbara. Much light to you in this dark season. Ann
as always, wisdom, inviting us to pause and be present with all that is emerging now in our lives, within and without. thank you dear Ann, for these beautiful reminders, to light up our world. And how connected and interdependent we all are, with all the life forms. Love from southern Oregon, Anne
Hello Anne! Always love hearing from you. Indeed, we are all interconnected and interdependent. Ann
Lovely lights … carrying the messages the beholder needs to receive. Maybe you can have a battery-operated candle glowing in your hospital room. Blessings and appreciation!
Thank you, Jana. It is early morning the day after my surgery and there are lights on all over our home. Things went well and now the healing begins. Ann
I love you, Ann Linnea. You have been an incredible mentor to me and are one of my favorite lights.
Aww, thank you Jeanne Guy who always knows how to make me laugh. Ann
Sending you blessings and hugs for your hip surgery! 😘😁💋🤗👋❤
Thank you, Julie. Hugs from one part of the island to another. Ann
Ann, thank you for adding light to my life with your beautiful messages. I hope you have a bright and happy Christmas.
Wishing you well with your recovery.
Thank you, Sue! We just received the extraordinary owl. Thank YOU! Looking for just the right spot for her to rest. Ann
Thank you my friend. I love these small acts of hope and gratitude. Happy and Holy Holidays to you and yours. You are a bright light in our lives Dear One!
Dear Glenda, You are one of those people who is a master of small acts of hope and gratitude. Thank you. Ann
Dearest Ann,
wishing you all the best for Christmas and for the operation that awaits you. Warmest greetings to Christina, too. Heartwarming to see that the silver tree is still in use 😉 Thinking of you both with gratitude. Wishing you both good health! Blessings and love from Annamari
Oh my, Annamari, wonderful to hear from you! We have always cherished that beautiful silver tree and put it in that central place in our home during the holidays. Blessings to you and yours this holiday. With gratitude for the good wishes around surgery.Ann
Thnak you Ann for your comforting light filled words. I am in the Frozen Tundra of north central Wisconsin. We’re in the second day of our first deep freeze. High temp yesterday was 5 below zero, With wind chill of about 25 below. But the sun is out today again and the birds are hungry at our feeders. We have snow cover already. It’s beautiful even though cold. I love the peae and quiet of winter. I wish you speedy healing with your upcoming surgery.
Dear Deborah, So glad to hear from the frozen north! Brings back such good memories from my years in Duluth—really, it does! Nothing like those bitter temperatures to remind us how lucky we are to have heat and light! Holiday blessings to you, too. Ann
You are truly one of the very few people that I actually listen to and hang on every word. Thanks so much and a Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Dear Larry, Thank you so very much for your kind note. Merry Christmas to you, too! Ann
Dearest Ann, Here is my prayer for you tomorrow:
A Healing Prayer
I rest in the knowing that
Every hand that touches you
is a Healing Hand…
And every mind that thinks of you
thinks with Love…
And every eye that sees you
sees with Love.
Love is ever present
and you are held forevermore
In Source of Love…
At the Center of All.
Bless you, Marti! Everything went well with my surgery and there is no doubt in my mind that all the prayers helped. My team of doctors and nurses were beyond excellent. Now the healing begins. Ann
Cheering for you Ann.
Thank you for stories and encouragements of light!
Always appreciate your comments, dear Tenneson. Hugs to faraway Utah! Ann
Thank you, Ann, for the gentle reminder to see the beauty that exists in the small things. I am enjoying the birds that come to the feeders. I’m grateful for my recent chat with all my Elderhearts that have continued to be “in love” with each other for so many years. It lights up the darkest day and keeps me focused on the importance of relationships. I use these gray days to keep in touch with others around the world that have given me so many lovely memories. I am grateful for you and Christina who have loved so many travelers on their journey to enlightenment! May your new hip bring you joy!
Beautiful response, Diane! Your Elderheart group has certainly withstood the test of time—an extraordinary achievement in any time, but especially now. Be well, hope to see you in the new year. Ann
Thank you for this, Ann. I have had a difficult time recently and it seems my mind is leaning toward light as a kind of self-preservation. I’ve had a Charles Bukowski quote surfacing often:
“There’s a light somewhere.
It may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.”
Charles Bukowski
Amen to light and leaning in*
Thank you for that quote, Bonnie Rae. For those of us with empathy it IS very hard not to feel discouraged and sad. So many folks in our state are suffering mightily and the forecasts just keep promising mo.re rain, wind, and snow in the high country. Light does indeed beat the darkness and sometimes we have to work to find that light. Ann