Gazing in the Mirror

December 11 - Season of Light

There's a certain slant
of light, on winter
afternoons, that oppresses.
~ Emily Dickinson

We have within us a power . . .
that can overcome every
obstacle in our life and set us
safe, satisfied and at peace,
healed and prosperous, in a
new light, and in a new life.
~ Ernest Holmes

I love the lights of this season that shine out warm and bright in the cold, dark nights. They cheer my eyes and help to keep the season from feeling too oppressive. My young boys will come into our dimly lit home after we have been away and immediately turn on ALL the lights. They cannot get enough of that bright energy. When my sons were still very young, they often wanted the lights on inside of our car after darkness had fallen. So we would find our little family fully illuminated in our car for all to see clearly as we traveled down the highway. What is it about light that matters so much to so many people ?

Perpetual day and night illumination is a relatively new effect in human evolution. Before the 1940s daylight was the primary light source for most people though some artificial light in the form of oil lamps or candles existed. The arrival of electric lighting has transformed our planet and our lives. In order to save energy there is a renewed effort in building design to incorporate more natural daylight into the function of living spaces. The benefits of natural daylight extend beyond energy savings for the effects of such light are psychologically and physiologically significant in human lives. Electric lights produce certain spectrums of wavelengths. Most electrical light sources lack the spectral distribution needed for complete biological functions even though "full-spectrum" fluorescent lighting comes close.

Most electric light bulbs lack the blue portion of the color spectrum and are concentrated in the yellow, orange, red and occasionally green portions of that spectrum. The blue portion is the most important part for humans and it is provided best by natural light. Daylight most closely matches the visual response that has evolved in humans. The energy of sunlight peaks slightly in the blue-green portion of visible light. Daylighting is associated with improved mood, enhanced morale, lower fatigue and a reduction of eyestrain. Less obvious is the contact with the outdoor world that meeting the biological need for daylight brings us. The major control centers of our body – the nervous and endocrine systems – are directly regulated by light. In the 365 Science of Mind essays for this date Ernest Holmes quotes a Tao Te Ching verse that reads – "Who uses well his light, Reverting to its (source so) bright, Will from his body ward all blight".

As wonderful as our technological advances have been in adding convenience and comfort to our lives we ignore the natural order and biological rhythms of our human mind and body at a cost. Sunlight sustains our Earth and all of the life thereon. Even though the effects of lives spent in buildings under artificial light are most pronounced during the dark months of the year, the effects of the wrong kinds of artificial lighting occur year round. Light is so important to human beings that there are many common phrases that employ its symbology in a positive vein – our days revolve around the sun and moon, love can "light" up our selves to a degree that other people are actually able to discern and knowledge has often been equated with "light". Even in our religious texts, light plays its part in the original act of the Creator. Difficult times are often referred to as "the dark night of the soul".

Studies have shown that society's overprotective attitude toward ultraviolet rays may actually have a negative effect on health though we seek to prevent harm. Children in rooms with full-spectrum lighting had fewer cavities and in one test employees in a building with ultraviolet-transmitting windowpanes along with full spectrum lighting did not develop illness during a flu epidemic. The difference in daylight between the summer and winter solstice can be as much as 5 hours in some regions – perhaps more in some regions though slightly less in others. Still it is a huge difference in quantity that is not lost upon me as I must leave for my daily hike in the forest as much as 3 hours earlier here in Missouri or walk in darkness. Having grown up in the strong daylight of the desert (a difference we actually notice whenever we travel from Missouri to Texas in the fall or winter months), I am quite affected by endless cloudy days and crave the bright blue sky of a sunny day.

The year I first wrote this essay, we had decided to minimize our tree decorations that year. We were leaving the day after Christmas for travel and our tree was at that time a live one so it had to be planted outdoors before we left home for an extended period of time. But we had to have our traditional lights which are these huge globes of color that we are beginning to have difficulty finding replacement bulbs for. My family is often reluctant to give up our Christmas tree lights after Christmas has passed. Often, we don't take our tree down until mid-January. For many years, we kept our back porch illuminated year round with colored strings of lights because they provided an exceptional lighting for the whole space and we found this kind of light didn't attract insects in the warm seasons the way that a single bright porch light did. It always cheered my heart when I would see our multi-colored lights welcoming us home whenever we had to return after dark.

~ perspective

The lights of the holiday season
gladden my heart during the dark
months of the year.
A bright blue sky after days of
blanketing grey can boost my spirits
immediately.
On mild days I love to step outside
for a few moments of sunlight as this
seems to set my mood on a happier
pathway for much of the day.
I welcome the sunlight and resonate
naturally with the life-sustaining
properties of natural light.
I find the multi-colored lights to be
cheerful year round and don't keep
them lit only for the holidays.

#candles #cheer #color #darkness #depression #emotion #fatigue #illness #sun #warmth