patches of snow
lit up by moonlight
illuminate
the darkest part of the year
There is a Star Trek Next Generation episode called "Inner Light" and in it Captain Picard lives a whole lifetime in a span of 25 minutes. He becomes the husband, father, grandfather to a family on a planet that has been extinct for 1000 years. He holds the memory of the planet, this inner light, within him so that he can tell the rest of the galaxy that they lived and loved. You'll want to listen to the song “Inner Light” from the STNG episode called Lessons (it's on Youtube), it's really beautiful.
During December we need inner light, oh I know that we light up our houses for Christmas, use all sorts of decorations, but the light has to also come from within. Where do you find your inner light?
On Saturday, Mary and I attended a mediation retreat at Lotus Heart Zen Abbey. It was difficult to sit for 25 minutes at a time, we alternated sitting and walking mediation, and practiced for about two hours took a break and then practiced some more. Group meditation is good and gives us insight into how we can make our personal practice more meaningful. The Ven. Do'an Prajna Sabunim gave us many helpful tips to enhance our personal mediation. The best illustration was about the river, thoughts are like a river, they can take us places we don’t need to go, they, like the chaos of Christmas time, tell us we need to do this or that, feel this way about that person, but when we can take a step back and watch those thoughts from a place of indifference, we are able to make space for that inner light to shine in. May you have space this December to experience the inner light.