Cold weather got you down? Lots of people find the lack of daylight a little hard on their sense of wellbeing. I find my mood begins to shift in unhelpful ways. I’m more likely to be put off by inconsiderate drivers, eat more carbohydrates and then wince at my burgeoning waist. How might we capture the kind of "light" that keeps our spirituality humming along?
A friend of mine throws a midwinter Barbados party every year. Everyone comes to his home dressed in shorts, t-shirts and beach sandals. He turns the thermostat up as high as it will go, inflates plastic palm trees. The sound of steel drums waft across the room as people sit in lawn chairs and drink cold drinks.
That's one way to capture the light – with friends, food, music. I wonder if I could talk Christy and Geremy into hosting a similar party in the ELLICSR kitchen?
Other capturing the light ideas might be:
- An afternoon or evening in cottage country would help you to recharge your batteries. The sun bounces off of the snow and everything is brighter. A little exercise to get your blood flowing and you may get to see birds and animals that you haven’t seen for a long time. In the evening, some flashlights, a fire (in a fire place or on the channel on TV), recorded nature sounds and some finger foods might be just what you need to regenerate.
- Don’t have the moola for a Mediterranean cruise? Perhaps you can fake the same feeling at home. With a fan running to provide a ‘warm costal breeze’, try immersing your feet in a large bucket of warm water while watching a documentary on a seaside beach? (Just remember not to handle anything electrical.)
What would capturing the light look like for you? How can you reimagine the darkness until it offers daylight?
Yes, the days are shorter and that calls for a little ingenuity. Why not spend some time planning a winter’s night with you?
