On the Shortest Day, We Find Our Light Within ⟡
On the shortest day and the longest night, we celebrate hope and the return of light. For thousands of years, people have gathered on the Winter Solstice to capture the last rays of sunlight before the sun makes its final descent in the sky.
But on this longest night, it’s also a time to honor the dark… to go inward and face our own shadows. It’s a reminder that there is always darkness before the light, and that the light always returns. It’s a time to celebrate death and rebirth, optimism, and peace. It’s a reminder that peace comes from a place of quiet and stillness, and without first finding stillness, we can never find true peace.
Easily my favorite day of the year, I love the quiet energy that invites reflection and introspection, encouraging us to release all that no longer serves us and alchemize our hurt and pain into growth. I’ve always found the solstice to be the (relative) calm before the storm… a day to put the holiday planning on hold, to celebrate and thank the earth for her life-giving energy, and a time to set intentions for the year ahead.
As we find stillness in the dark, we can more easily connect with how we want to feel in the year ahead. How do we want to show up for ourselves and those we love? What energy do we want people to feel when we walk into a room? Maybe it’s less about what we accomplish and more about how we pursue our passions, find and speak our truth, foster genuine connection with those who mean the most, and the times we choose to take the harder path because it promises a better view on the other side.
Here are a few of my favorite ways to celebrate the Winter Solstice.
Journal - Take time for reflection and setting new intentions. Here are a few of my favorite journal prompts for the Winter Solstice. Remember to journal somewhere that you can easily reference next year. It can be a great reminder each year of the lessons you’ve learned and the small (and big) wins that you want to celebrate.
What are one or two things that surprised you the most from the past year?
What are some of the challenges you faced over the past year?
What lessons can you glean from those challenges and take with you into the new year?
What do you want to feel more of in the new year? And what can you do to be sure you are achieving that feeling?
What do you want to cultivate more of in the new year?
What are you ready to release and leave behind this year?
Bring Nature Inside - As we celebrate the earth and thank her for all of her life-giving sources, infuse some of your holiday decorations with natural elements from the earth. Create a simmer pot and enjoy the scents of warm citrus and cinnamon throughout your home. Dry orange slices and create an earthy garland. Gather pine cones that have already fallen and use them to make a centerpiece for your dining table.
Bake and/or Share a Hearty Meal - Lean into hearty, nurturing meals that use warm spices, root vegetables, and rich comforting flavors. Try your hand at a Yule Log Cake - a centuries-old tradition born in pagan times when a carefully selected log would ceremoniously burn on the longest night of the year - its ashes thought to have magical properties that could protect the home's inhabitants for the year ahead.
Give Back to Nature - As the birds prepare to winter, sprinkle birdseed or create birdfeeders of your own. Donate to an organization that’s fighting global warming. Reduce your carbon footprint by committing to taking shorter showers. Plan ahead to make Meatless Mondays part of your meal planning routines. Or, giftwrap a package of LED lights with your name on it so that you can reduce your home’s energy consumption.
Write Yourself a Letter - As you reflect on your year and think about the year ahead, I’ve found that a really beautiful way to mark time passing is by writing a letter to my future self. Here are a few prompts to get you started on your letter writing:
Dear future self,
My wish for you this year is…
I hope you can find more magic in the year ahead. Finding magic looks like…
When we meet again in one year, these are the lessons I hope you’ve learned…
I forgive you.
I hope you always remember exactly who you are…
Visit a Yoga Studio and Practice 108 Sun Salutations - I could probably write an entire post about my love for 108s, but I’ll do my best to keep this brief :) At the change of each season, you’ll find packed studios of students gathering to practice 108 Sun Salutations. Sun Salutations, or Surya Namaskar, are a series of postures to celebrate the sun - the source that gives life to all living things. In this series, we practice gratitude, we generate powerful inner energy while releasing stuck energy and emotion, and although greuling at times, the lengthy practice invites us to surrender and live in the present moment.
Invite the Light In - Fill your home with warmth and light with the warm glow of candles and/or your fireplace. A celebration of the returning light, there’s a certain magic that fills our home when we bring light to this darkest of nights. Add a release ceremony to your night - especially if you’re using a fireplace… it can be done with a candle, but please please find some kind of fireproof container first. Write down on a small piece of paper all that you want to release this year, take a moment to really focus on your intention of release, then surrender your intention to the flames.
Make a Winter Solstice Playlist - I don’t know about you, I find so much healing in music. From the time that I was young, I’ve found that music can help me work through just about anything. You might laugh a little when you see my Apple Music playlists, which are basically categorized by emotion :) I love to settle into the reflectiveness and introspection of the solstice, and here are some of my favorites from my Winter Solstice playlist:
Winter Trees by The Staves
Christmas Lights by Coldplay
Dark Bloom by Amber Run
Winter Song by Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles
Winter Song by The Head and the Heart
Evergreen by Ben Howard
Mystery of Love by Sufjan Stevens
Fairytale of New York by The Pogues
If you celebrate this year, I’d love to hear more about how you celebrate. You can comment here or send me a message on insta @jesscallahan_