Where the Light Shines
Journaling away this morning I had an interesting thing happen as I looked up between sentences. Suddenly, for the first time since I’ve lived in this house, I noticed a reflection on the floor tile! Across the room from the couch I’m sitting on is the entertainment center and right there I see that the tile in my home, the tile I’ve looked at for 14 years, is polished enough to cast a reflection! The TV & speaker stands were caught in the morning light falling in behind and to the left me, spilling from the dining area to the living room and are clearly reflected in the tile below.
Now, does everyone see this? Why do I notice this reflection in photographs of fancy architecture in luxury beach homes but somehow not in the reflection of the tile in my own home? Is the reflection always this clear? Could I have missed it day after day? Alas, perhaps it is a rare treat allowed to be viewed by my eyes due to the time of day. How often do we truly get to sit in our home in the morning hours to observe when and how the light falls? If we do not sit and observe, is it even possible to imagine how the light would fall throughout the day as well as its effect on the tile, furniture and walls?
No! This is what must have driven the philosophers and scientists of old to build structures such as Stonehenge to measure the movement and research the reason why the sun might be casting its shadows in some new and strange way, hour after hour, day after day, month after month. Can you imagine first becoming aware that the sun was clearly shifting in the sky and that the shadows were not always the same? What would that mean to you and your village if it continued to shift? And then what? You, as the observer, might think, “Will it stay on course?”, “Will it continue to shift to a point it may not come up at all?”. I wonder what the thought process was and how long it went on. Though I suppose it is still going on exactly this way with science through physics. Always observing the next nuance to figure out what is going on in our world!
As I’ve been thinking this through the sun has, of course, continued its journey through the sky. The Cat of Seven Names sits upon her perch in the dining area and basks in the sun that still flows in through that same window and yet the angle has changed so that the reflection in the tile is no longer as noticeable. In fact, you’d hardly see it at all if you hadn’t seen it before. Which, of course, was why I may have not noticed it before even though it was there. The light just doesn’t happen to come in at that angle, at the right time, for long enough, to catch a glimpse of the reflection during a typical day. The reflection is always there, we simply must look for it when we think it is absent.
This reminds me of the importance of understanding that we should continually strive to shine the best that we can for ourselves and others in each moment. If we look, there will always be excuses to let ourselves and others down. However, by doing this we fail and allow negative feelings to persist which robs others of the opportunity to see a shining example of what positivity and mindfulness can be. To exemplify the benefits of embracing the golden rule.
As with the reflection of the speaker stand and entertainment center in the tile, we never know how or when the light we shine will enter others. Our own ‘windows’ and ‘blinds’ change our light from day to day and each person has ‘drapes’ and ‘shutters’ in areas we may never see but we never know when one person’s light will enter another and catch the tile at just the right angle, at just the right time of day and they will be inspired to make positive change. That they will see the reflection in the tile, the potential in themselves to create positivity, happiness and purpose in their lives! That they will see that potential and never lose sight of that potential even when the light shifts or maybe on a day the blinds didn’t happen to be open. That they will remember that just like the sun shifts in the sky so does our own personal conviction and motivation and we must be willing to see that reflection on the tile even when the light isn’t hitting it in that special way. Perhaps we need to move to a new room or go outside to catch the reflection! Never give up your journey and continue doing the work to let the light shine both in and out of you easily, for yourself and for others.
