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- Jul 30, 2004
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Tomorrow is June 21, day of the summer solstice: the longest day of the year.
It is a visible calendar mark, one the ancients knew.
Every day for six months, my wife and I have watched the sun set just a little farther north on the horizon. Each day, a little measurable bit farther; about a minute longer more of daylight than the last.
No matter how you measure time, the earth measures time in this way.
In one room of our home, there is a small octagonal window facing north. For 10 months out of the year, no sunlight shines through it. But for six weeks or so in mid-summer, a slice of sunlight cuts through at dawn and sunset, illuminating the room in a special way that I notice, and appreciate. It's like Newgrange or Stonehenge in a way, and in me it strikes a chord. And soon that light will disappear.
Half the year is gone. It's a good time to stop and reflect on that time. Come June 22, days start getting shorter, the sun heads south and cold weather, though far off, is on its way.
You don't have to worry about planting crops anymore, but it is a measure of the year, and of your life, this passage of time.
Enjoy every sunset. Time is a gift; it should not go unappreciated.
So. Ask yourself one serious question: "How can I *possibly* be having more fun?" And whatever it is: follow your bliss!
Happy solstice, everybody!
Mike
It is a visible calendar mark, one the ancients knew.
Every day for six months, my wife and I have watched the sun set just a little farther north on the horizon. Each day, a little measurable bit farther; about a minute longer more of daylight than the last.
No matter how you measure time, the earth measures time in this way.
In one room of our home, there is a small octagonal window facing north. For 10 months out of the year, no sunlight shines through it. But for six weeks or so in mid-summer, a slice of sunlight cuts through at dawn and sunset, illuminating the room in a special way that I notice, and appreciate. It's like Newgrange or Stonehenge in a way, and in me it strikes a chord. And soon that light will disappear.
Half the year is gone. It's a good time to stop and reflect on that time. Come June 22, days start getting shorter, the sun heads south and cold weather, though far off, is on its way.
You don't have to worry about planting crops anymore, but it is a measure of the year, and of your life, this passage of time.
Enjoy every sunset. Time is a gift; it should not go unappreciated.
So. Ask yourself one serious question: "How can I *possibly* be having more fun?" And whatever it is: follow your bliss!
Happy solstice, everybody!
Mike
I also watch the sun crawl across the horizon further and further north until the Solstice and then I watch it start traveling south once again. The Old Cherokee always said to wait until the leaves of the willow were the size of squirrel ears before planting the corn.
