Are you hitting “TILT” some days? I am. On December 21st, in my home town of Mill Valley, I am convening a small circle of friends to enjoy the power of a pause – a time to sit in silence, complete some of the past and gather forces for the New Year.
The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. But, we are actually closer to the sun than during the summer – 4 million miles closer! Because the Earth’s axis is tilted away from the sun, the Northern Hemisphere is cold and dark until we start “tilting” the other way again.
The time from Dec 21 until early January is a time of change that we can use to give momentum to the things we want to shift. The Earth reaches perihelion – the point in its orbit closest to the Sun – in early January, only about two to three weeks after the December solstice. From Solstice to Epiphany (January 6) can be a powerful a turning point in our lives. (One definition of Epiphany means a sudden realization of a great truth.)
If you use this time consciously, as a time of transition, you get a lift. You can begin to thrive. You are working with the earth forces when you pause and pay attention, living in sync with nature’s ways and earth’s rhythms.
Pay close attention to your dreams, meditate, write, gather with loving community and family, spend time in nature, and listen deeply during this time.
Explore stuck places. Ask yourself caring questions about where you repeat the past, what needs to end, be completed or thrown out. Consider what is missing for a more fulfilling life, where you and your beloveds thrive.
To many, the veils to insight seem thinner – you might experience an occasional revelation of wisdom – a new light inside that is born from reflecting on and releasing feelings of dissatisfaction, unfulfilled yearnings. Forgive yourself for times you held back out of timidity or paralyzing fear instead of taking the risk to grow in new ways.
Instead of engaging in frantic holiday rush, use this time to thrive, to TURN into a more fulfilling life.
With family, colleagues, and friends, celebrate all that you are becoming and love the gentle soul in each of you who cares so deeply about the world. Honor your willingness to risk and your dedication to creating a more loving future.
In our fast paced relentless lives, turning points matter. Without them, we get stuck in the past. Using them well we are cultivating wisdom.
It’s a good time to have friends around, and to be a good friend. It’s a time to give of your heart and warm your soul. [I share the 3 questions from our gathering in the Get Your Twinkle back blog.]
And, along the way, take good care of your self,
Karen
Meanings of the Words:
The word solstice comes from Latin and means “the standing still of the sun.” (Sol means sun and sistere means to stand still).
Wikipedia defines the perihelion “as the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid or comet where it is nearest to the sun. The word perihelion stems from the Greek words “peri” (meaning “near”) and “helios” (meaning “sun”). All planets, comets and asteroids in our solar system have elliptical (non-circular) orbits. Thus, they all have a closest and a farthest point from the sun: a perihelion and an aphelion.”