Solstice

The holidays are approaching and it's easy to get lost in it all, So I wrote something to help me at least ground down all the pomp and circumstance of this time of year. No matter how we celebrate or don't celebrate, we all will be gifted more sunlight soon.

This Friday the 21st of December at 2:23 Pacific standard time the sun will pass directly over the tropic of Capricorn. At this precise moment, the north pole will be angeled, 23.5 degrees away from the sun, tilting it further from the sun than at any other time of the year. At this precise moment, all people on this damp blue dot that many of us call earth will experience the celestial phenomenon of the winter solstice. Irregardless of languages, religion, nationality, political persuasion, social standing, or credit score, we will all experience this cosmic shift.

December is a greedy month when holidays are concerned. Christmas, Hanaka, Kwanzaa, New Years Eve and national cookie day (Dec 4.) Is it a coincidence that in the darkest month of the year, we humans, the party animal of this planet, finds more reasons to celebrate than any other time of year? Perhaps if you are a coincidence theorist you may believe this, but I am no coincidence theorist, at least as far as this goes. What other month demands so much of us as of December. As each day passes this final month of our calendar becomes more and more stingy with what little light it shines upon us. Every day it withholds a couple of minutes more of the solar energy we need to maintain life, that all life needs to maintain life. It is in this time of collective darkness, literal darkness that we humans of so many different cultures, come together to celebrate life. We do this in many different ways. The stories we tell and the foods we feast on differ, but regardless of our tradition they all grow out of the frozen ground of a dark month.

As we collectively experience the darkest time of the year, with the knowledge tomorrow will be a bit brighter, we as individuals try to mirror some of this hope into our personal lives. So we come up with our own re-sol-utions for the new year. For reasons I once again do not ascribe to coincidence, we have collectively decided this is the most opportune time to make healthy changes in our lives. I do challenge everyone in these darkest of days before the solstice to really explore or maybe I should say enplore all the potential we have to. I have no trouble believing that between some combination increased solar energy in our portion of the earth, and the collective energy of self-improvement that so many people are contributing to there is some yet to be known current of energy we can tap into. I challenge everyone to really ask what they want out of the coming year. Let us be honest with ourselves with how much effort we can put forth, while still challenging ourselves. Let us see how much we can accomplish.

So yes let us partake in the festivities and fun. Let us partake in the frivolities and give each other totems of our connections, but let us acknowledge the darkness. Let us acknowledge where we need more energy and put our energy into those areas of our lives. Let us jump into the winter.

Anthony Bruni