Let Your Light Shine!!

December brings us Winter Solstice - the longest night of the year and for some, the true New Year's Eve - as the next day starts the journey into growing days and increasing light. Until the Solstice, cold Winter days and long, crisp nights call us inside, not only to stoke the fires of our hearths but also the fires in our hearts.

This month, we enter a time of introspection, reflection and integration. We reflect on our past and use the lessons we find there to make plans for our future. What does your deepest heart long for and how can you stoke the fires that burn there?

December's energy is aligned with organizing and readying yourself for what's next, even if you can't see it clearly. What preparation is needed to move toward your heart's desires? Where is growth needed? Surrender? Patience? Trust? Courage? Action? How can you best prepare yourself to be the person you want to be in the future? What skills do you need to sharpen? Are there foundational pieces to your dream that need shoring up so you can go the distance? These are questions to reflect on and tend to this month.

Despite today's very commercialized Christmas season, December is an opportunity to honor our inherent innocence and to celebrate the birth of our own light. Each one of us has a gift to offer the world, and we are the only ones who can bring that gift forward in our unique way. No one is excluded from owning the Sacred Light they bring forward.

These tips can help you make good use of December's opportunities:

• Shift your gift. Consider shifting away from commercial gifting and instead, create gifts that nourish the heart and spirit of your loved ones and others in ways that make the world a better place, such as: make donations to worthy world causes; make something homemade like art, ornaments or body products; write loved ones a special letter; take on a project to help someone; volunteer time to those in need; or just offer to be there for someone who is lonely.

• Learn from your year's harvest. Reflect on what worked and what did not. Release what feels complete or no longer serves and use it as fuel for your future successes, just as the fallen leaves become a warm protective blanket of nourishment for the tree roots beneath the ground.

• Notice your inner fire light. Does it feel strong or weak? What does it need to burn more evenly? What will sustain it through time? Make plans to bring this balance into your life.

• Honor your inner light. Use the colorful lights of the season as reminders that your inner light shines on, despite any darkness around you. All you have to do is allow it. Light a special candle in the evening and take a moment each night to sit and fill your heart with gratitude for the unique contributions of your inner light to this world.

Happy Holidays to you!