Happy Winter Solstice! (arriving at 3:35 PM Mountain Time today)
For us in the northern hemisphere, winter solstice is that moment when the earth stops its tilt away from the sun and begins its journey back to balance. There is a moment where it is going-going-going and then it turns, imperceptibly, and begins the slow tilt back the other way. Stopping to attune to that moment in whatever way we can, reminds us of our place in the universe. We are intimately connected with this event whether we stop to contemplate it or not.
The bright burning star at the center or our universe, our sun, generates life on the planet. This annual dance of the earth cycling and tilting around the sun impacts everything. It manifests light and dark, summer and winter, times of stillness and times of activity. It creates times of slumber for trees and plants and times of thriving and bursting out of new growth.
And of course, in the middle of the cold and the dark, to know the light is coming back is symbolic as well. It’s hopeful. It’s joyous. And it’s a mystery. For whatever explanations the scientists have theorized about why we are here, there is a part of all this that is magical. And profound.
Whatever we believe, we can know that it’s bigger and more complicated. The limitations of our human minds prevent us from understanding the whole picture. But we don’t have to understand everything to celebrate the effects. We are on a tiny rock of a planet circling around a fiery star. And our little rock is being pulled back toward the star in a way that creates more light and all the beautiful accompaniments: gardens, birds, butterflies, hope, joy, and illumination. Let’s take time to contemplate and celebrate this event.
Today and this week the mindfulness focus is winter solstice.
For more information on mindfulness focus words click here.
For the science of winter solstice from the Earth-Sky website click here
