This morning, as the sun rises on the summer solstice, it marks the climax of the year when the sun is in its highest and longest embrace with the sky. Let us bask in the glorious warmth and endless light of midsummer, leaning into love for nature all around and its bright, clear and essential truth. It is pure joy.
But with the solstice comes the knowledge that soon the inexorable move towards the darkness of winter will begin. We are on the cusp of change.
Women in perimenopause are often dealing with unforgiving, daily reminders of “The Change”, but the reality is that life – and the world around us – is in constant flux. Every morning sunrise marks another rotation of the earth on its axis and yesterday is forever lost. A new day dawns and we begin again. Things are the same and yet, they are also different.
The key is to fully accept this knowledge and absorb it into our very being. Change is part of nature; we are part of nature; therefore we are change – from our very conception until death. We know that physical change in our bodies is inevitable, yet it is in our power to control the emotional narrative of this next phase in our lives. To write the next chapter of our story, in the way we want.
Using the power of the solstice
Charging us with energy, the summer solstice is a powerful tool we can use to embrace change in a positive way.
A simple pause to reflect at this time of year can help us move away from established patterns that may have been hold us back from fully engaging with how we want our lives to be moving forward. It can help us let go of old habits that no longer serve us and instead embrace change: new ways of thinking, new ways of doing and new ways of being. It can help us welcome in new projects, or new ways of resting, playing and finding joy in our lives.
Asking a few simple questions, and listening to how our heart responds, can help us find clarity for the next stage in our lives.
Use this time of still and quiet energy to ask yourself some questions:
- What am I ready to let go of that no longer serves me?
- What am I ready to welcome into my life that is new?
- What could the light from the sun help illuminate or clarify for me?
- Who or what lights my fire?
If there are things in your life that you feel need to shift – physically or emotionally – know that there can, and in fact inevitably will, be new ways of being.
But for today let us celebrate light during this beautiful brief moment of stillness and rejoice in what we have with the world and honour who and what we. And let us use the clarity cast by the sun’s strongest light to illuminate our best way forward.
