Bring on the Light

I love summer. 

It makes me not just happy, but ecstatic! 

I’m sure it’s seasonal affective disorder. 

(I have diagnosed myself.) 

Without sunshine, I have a months-long case of the blahs. 

I’m an eighth generation native Californian, after all. 

Before me, my parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, my great-great grandparents, my great-great-great grandparents, and so on...all spent their days in the sun. 

Lots of happiness in that family.

But lots of skin cancer, too.

Back in the ’70s before we knew it was bad for you, I remember laying out on a tin foil blanket slathered in baby oil with sun-in sprayed in my hair.

My mother used to take sunbaths. When I was a baby, she put me out there on a mat in my diaper to soak in the rays. 

We didn’t know about melanoma, liver spots, and hyperpigmentation. 

What did we know? 

Sometimes, you just need to let a little light in. 

Og Mandino once said, “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.” 

Lots of dark out there in this crazy world right now.  

Maybe not be enough stars to counterbalance it.  

When there’s not enough light around us, we may need to manufacture some. 

A coach friend of mine recently asked herself one day, “Where can I bring in more light?”

This could be physical light: Painting walls brighter. Bringing in new lamps. Tearing down a wall to bring more light into a room.

But it could be social light. Spending time with friends who bring you joy. Trying a new social activity you have never tried before: Paintball; an escape room; watch some live music. Don't wait for others to ask you to go out, but you reach out first.

It could be emotional or psychological light: Participating in therapy, coaching, mindfulness, recovery work, or other practices to minimize the shadows. Or simply choosing to watch a comedy rather than a dark series on Netflix.  

And then there’s workplace light: Bringing creativity and humor to a task or project. Celebrating a team for a job well done. Surprising and delighting your colleagues with some fun. 

What kind of light could you expand in your life?

I recently decided I wanted to go visit Rhododendron State Park. 

It’s about an hour and a half from my house.

They say the best time to go is mid-July…when the rhododendrons are blooming, and the park is in its full glory. Oftentimes, entire summers pass, and I forget to go. But this year, we looked up the bloom report.

It was amazing.

Tunnels of rhododendrons. Blooms everywhere—and in the deep woods, among groves of trees, deer flies, and poison ivy.

We missed some of them. But in the shadowy areas, there were buds still opening.

Yes, I scheduled an opportunity to go be with flowers.

What is one thing you could do to bring more light to your day? 

Maybe it’s turning off your laptop a half hour earlier. Taking that 10 minutes to walk outside when you feel you don't have time. Watching a funny brief video that makes you laugh. Spending a few minutes on the phone with a friend. Winding down a new trail or path you have never explored before.

Edith Wharton once wrote, “There are two ways of spreading light: To be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

We all can benefit from more light.

Be the candle or the mirror.

Your pick.

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