Liberation With More Light

Beginning of Spring

The Lunar New Year will be celebrated this Friday 12th February. This date is determined by the Chinese lunisolar calendar and usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice on 21st December, in the northern hemisphere. The Winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, a day that is consumed by darkness.

The benefit of the Lunar New Year, is that it is always celebrated at the beginning of Spring when we awaken from the depths of winter. The noticeable lengthening daylight is new and provides us with this distinction, along with new plant life, renewed energy and a sense of activity.

How does it feel?

Currently the low sun, shines its rays of warming light on to my face, the sky is clear, the temperature is the coldest it has been for years and for many, much snow has arrived. The end of winter has left its mark. A week earlier we experienced a mild and bright day, many people were out exercising, smiling, I heard birdsong and chatter from children playing and the sounds of music coming from the homes I walked past. I notice a strong sensation under my diaphragm, it felt of relief and buoyancy. This day arrived after a particularly cold, wet and very grey January.

This is just one day, a beautiful day. However, weather changes and so does our internal mood.

Freedom and Release

The lengthening day light has left me with a feeling of liberation. The restrictions of lockdown have not changed, we are still restrained under the current law, but something has shifted. Seemingly a sense of freedom, a release, more room to move around, as daylight seeps further into the late afternoon.

New Year, New Hope

The extending warming light sends signals to the snowdrops and crocuses to reveal themselves in all their colourful glory. This is what beauty looks like. Green shoots, shoot up, this work has been in progress for weeks, we are only now seeing their results. They tell us, we no longer have to endure, the sun is coming and with it, the light is too. We arrive at a Lunar New Year and arrive into hope.