New Perspectives

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I’ve been finding it hard to wake up these days.  A walk at night with the clear sky and a bright moon is a great recipe for settling in for a long winter’s nap.  The longer nights and cooler temperatures make a great combination for staying in bed longer than usual.  

Darkness is a significant part of our Canadian identity during this time of year.  Living in the southern part of Canada, we have more daylight than the rest of the country.  Friends from the north share with me their perspective on darkness, and I rethink my thoughts about night.

I may be finding it hard to wake up these days but have nothing on the restaurant owners who get to work for the early morning breakfast crowd.  How about those who drive children for swimming or skating lessons which start well before dawn?  Then there are the folks working at the hospital who arrive ready for their shift and are prepared for anything as they enter the place.  And the cleaners who come before anyone else to make sure the space is ready for the day.  Some folks working more than one job to make ends meet have darkness as their constant companion.

Darkness has traditionally been a metaphor for struggle, loss, depression, death, difficulty and the hard ways of life.  It is seen in contrast to light which is portrayed as goodness, hope, life, birth, newness and brightness.  The two are divided and defined.

What if we were to reframe darkness and discover some of its hidden gifts?  Like birth and the wonder of a mother’s womb.  So much development and gestation occur in the darkness before we are born.  Like the soil.  We never witness the profound growth and germination of seeds as they make their way in the earth.  There are even types of flowers that bloom in the darkness.

While the darkness may give me the sense of wanting to sleep longer and later, I am becoming more awake to the gifts of the night.

Here is what I have been noticing:  

* Listen, really listen to the silence of the night

* Adjust how I see things

* Time to think longer, perhaps with greater clarity, about that which is on my mind

* Remember how many people work at night and give thanks for them

* Trust in the seasonal rhythm of day and night, darkness and light

* Birth comes from darkness

* Sleep is a gift, whether in the daylight or at night

* Darkness has its own comfort

* People who are blind have much to teach me

These are just a few.  You can add your own.  As we approach the longest night on the 22nd, perhaps the darkness of the night will enfold us in its mystery and wonder.  Who knows what growth awaits us in the dark?

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Tuesday, December 13, 2011