“At one time you were a mountain, you were a cloud. This is not poetry, this is science.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

On this, the Winter Solstice, the longest and darkest day of the year, I mostly think of light. The world sits on a cusp now, teetering at the precipice between two realms, with us riding high on it’s shoulders.

Before, darkness ruled. It crept up more and more each moment, second by second, millimeter by millimeter with the passing months.

But after tonight, it’s day (so to speak) is done.

The days will begin to grow longer again. Light will return, stretching on and on into heady thoughts of spring and the summer that follows. As we move into what is usually the coldest time of year, the lengthening light gives a much-needed spark of hope, the promise of warmer and better days to come.

I think the same rules can apply to our lives. There are times of bitter darkness for each of us, sadness and heartbreak. But light always follows. Happiness and joy return. We just have to be here to see and experience it all in it’s entirety.

We have been mountains and we have been clouds. One day we may return as one or the other. In the next life, maybe.

Under the light of new beginnings that today offers us all, I think it’s a good time to honor the idea of transformation. The understanding that things that have once been can become something else entirely, can become again. Including each and every one of us.