Winter Solstice and New Beginnings

Today is the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. I’ve been looking forward to this day, basically since the autumn equinox. New York gets terribly dark around 4:30p, and I am so ready for longer days! On Sunday, M and I will head to Michigan for the holidays and, because it’s on the western end of Eastern Standard Time, I’ll be enjoying 5:30 sunsets a little sooner. I hope you all have a safe and lovely holiday, no matter what you celebrate.

All my love,
Kara
 

For A New Beginning

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

—John O’Donohue

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