Deep darkness of the long winter nights and the full life I spoke of yesterday - that contradicts each other, doesn't it? The winter solstice is associated with the calm of the dark, long night or the quiet sunset, but not with liveliness? Aliveness is movement, progress, energy …

Yes, exactly, energy! Good meditation instructions teach us not to just be calm in meditation, to be passive. Meditation is not about sleeping away. Rather, it is about sharpening one's perception without being distracted by movements, noises and thoughts. The movements, the noises, the thoughts - they are still there, they cannot be suppressed or denied. Paying attention while relaxing at the same time is not a contradiction in terms: The key to a meditation or mindfulness exercise is to be attentive without having to exert yourself, without evaluating what is happening. It happens and my inner senses perceive it - no more, no less.

And what is happening is a constant process, it is change in every moment. Something is going, something new is coming.

I recently read again that the length of the days does not change for 3 days from December 21st. On the 4th day then, the day wins the upper hand again. I had always wondered why Christmas, the date of which has nothing to do with the actual birthday of Jesus Christ, wasn't set for December 21st to bring light with a Christmas tree into the longest night of the year - at least in the northern hemisphere, where Christianity first spread.
Now it became clear to me again (I must have learned at some point in religion class, but forgot again): on December 24th, the light is celebrated, which from now on increases inconspicuously and yet noticeably until the solstice in June.

And what happens is a constant process, there is change in every moment. Something is going, something new is coming.

I recently read again that the length of the days does not change for 3 days from December 21st. On the 4th day, the day wins the upper hand again. I had always wondered why Christmas, the date of which has nothing to do with the actual birthday of Jesus Christ, not set for December 21st to bring light with a Christmas tree into the longest night of the year - at least in the northern hemisphere, where Christianity first spread.
Now it became clear to me again (I must have learned at some point in religion class, but forgot again): on December 24th, the light is celebrated, which from now on increases inconspicuously and yet noticeably until the solstice in June.

The mindfulness practice of meditation helps to feel the attention to the small nuances. We perceive the dark, we may also feel the sadness or melancholy that emanates from this darkness. But we don't evaluate them, we accept them and at the same time sharpen our perception for the feelings of hope that slowly but steadily emerge from the growing light.

And that is the magic of change: at the turning points, the contradictions in the fullness of life break like a prism. With the abundance one realizes that one can endure much more than one likes to pretend - including the deep darkness in our latitudes in December.