Today is the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. From tomorrow onwards, the days will be imperceptibly longer as we start the journey back towards the lighter seasons.
The Solstice is a time to pause – despite all the madness of the run up to Christmas – and reflect on the year that has passed.
I resumed writing my seasonal newsletters on last year’s Winter Solstice. I’ve enjoyed taking time to tap into the energy of the season and finding something meaningful to say to help my readers be more connected to the cycles of nature.
When I’m out and about meeting colleagues, clients and others in my network, I’m inordinately thrilled when someone tells me they’ve enjoyed my newsletter.
And yet… each time the date comes round to write it I have to push through my resistance: Will anyone read it? Have I got anything new to say? Sat at my desk with a million distractions it’s easy to talk myself out of putting pen to paper. I’m embarrassed to admit how many hours I’ve wasted scrolling social media before I got down to writing this!
It’s so easy to get caught up in the “stuff” of life – chasing the next goal, yet as I get older I realise that what gives me the deepest satisfaction is expressing my unique perspectives – connecting from the core of me to the core of you.
Dancer and choreographer Martha Graham put it well:
“There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.
And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it.”
On this Solstice take a few moments of quiet to reflect on:
- What is your unique contribution – the “stitch that is yours to sew”?
- When have you pushed through your resistance and the insidious “Voice of Doubt” to put something out into the world?
Remember – there is only one of you. Expressing your uniqueness is a gift to the world.