During my adult years, in the houses I have rented or owned, I have observed a morning ritual. I open up the curtains or the blinds covering the windows, and let the light in. Whether sunlight streams in through the windows or gray light filters in weakly, I welcome it happily into my living space.
I realized this morning that I had not opened the blinds for several days, keeping them closed as a barricade against the chill of winter outside. The sun was shining brilliantly this morning. It was time to let it in.
Moving room to room, welcoming the light, I recognized that the desire that I have to see sunlight was born in my childhood. Horribly frightened in the dark, the return of the sun each morning brought relief, a lessening of my fear, and hope. The light not only drove the shadows from my room, it chased them from my heart as well.
My heart carries its own light now, that is impervious to the darkest night. But it fills me with quiet gladness and simple joy to continue to bring sunlight into my home.
I’ve never been one to slather on the tanning oil and lay for hours in the sun. However I do enjoy sitting in a patch of sunlight for brief periods of time and soaking in the energy. Tipping back my head, eyes closed, I sun gaze for the same reason, to bring in the sun’s energy.
Indoors the sunlight slants across my favorite chair late in the afternoon, inviting me to slow down, close my eyes, and sun bathe before twilight creeps in.
This afternoon, before heading out on an errand, I paused to stand in the full light of the winter sun as it beamed through the window. I learned from Anthony William that the butterfly shaped thyroid gland collects energy from the sun, using it for healing, for balancing its production of hormones and for fighting the Epstein-Barr virus that can burrow there.
Eyes closed, chin raised to expose my throat, I welcomed the sunlight again, into my home, into my body. Shakti Gawain, author of Living in the Light, writes, “The more light you allow within you, the brighter the world you live in will be.”
My heart, soul…and thyroid…are full of light. My world is bright indeed!
