Embracing Shadow and Light: Winter Reflections on Growth

Now that the longest night of the year has passed I have been reflecting on how much we fear the dark seasons of our lives.

We look at moments of grief, exhaustion, or necessary endings as problems to be solved. We treat our internal shadows as something to be fixed or cured. I have done this myself and tried to fix sadness with busyness, masked burnout by calling it commitment to my goals.

Most of the time I was rushing toward the light, trying to stay ahead of the darkness without ever stopping to hear what it had to say.

A Poem That Started Everything

During times of transition or the changing of cycles, I often return to a poem that was the first real spark into my own journey of alignment. It is by the thirteenth century Persian poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, from Soul of Rumi.

I cannot summarize it without reducing it, so I will simply say that it suggests that darkness is not an intruder and not something that needs to be fixed. It is a piece of the whole and a reminder that what hurts you also blesses you.

When I first encountered these words I didn’t fully grasp their meaning. It only made sense when I began practicing energy work. Over time, I realized that the darkness was not something negative or wrong with me. It was a dense void, where I had hidden all the heavy parts of my life so I didn’t have to look at them.

But that void was actually a gift. It gave me the capacity to understand deep layers of pain, guilt, grief, and shame on a multidimensional level. As if I had unconsciously been expanding my capacity to hold both the light and the dark simultaneously.

What surprised me most was that the more I released the weight of these emotions by allowing them to surface and actually listening to them, the more that void became a space I could fill with something I hadn’t expected. Compassion, love, clarity, and the remembering of my intuitive gifts and why I chose to incarnate again.

I came to understand that light only exists because of shadow and that the depth at which I am able to understand my own darkness is directly connected to the amount of light I am able to hold. To be whole means accepting both equally.

Before the reflection prompts I wanted to share a reading of the poem. The poem is Shadow and Light Source Both from Soul of Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks. There is something about hearing it spoken that changes the experience of it entirely, which is why I have included a reading below.

Lines to Reflect Upon

Every line has meaning and is an invitation to reflect. Each time I return to this poem something different stands out. A line I had glossed over before suddenly stops me, or one I thought I understood reveals something new. After listening, notice the one that creates a reaction in your body before your mind catches up. The one you feel rather than just read. Try free writing what it is trying to reveal within you.

Here are my favorites:

Don’t try to put out fire by throwing on more fire.

Don’t wash a wound with blood.

No matter how fast you run, your shadow keeps up.

Sometimes it’s in front.

Only full overhead sun diminishes your shadow.

But that shadow has been serving you.

What hurts you, blesses you.

Darkness is your candle.

Your boundaries are your quest.

A personal note on “Your boundaries are your quest”… Boundaries can be seen as walls to keep things out, or as I prefer to see them, gateways that let in what is meant for me.

As we move through these final days of 2025, I hope you allow yourself the grace to stop running.

Your shadows are not something to fear. They are information. They are the part of you that has been waiting for you to turn around and listen.

Until next time, may you always be evergreen: ever expanding, ever evolving, and ever aligned.

Lisa