When the light shifts (20 Oct 25)

When the Light Shifts

Within a month, I lost two people from my family C extended family. I found myself standing by the water at dusk, watching the sun surrender to the horizon, and I asked the questions that grief demands: What is life, really? Should I feel acceptance? Gratitude? Or is grief the only honest response? Looking at this sunset, I realized the answer isn't either/or. It's all of it.

Mindfulness means witnessing all feelings without judgment. The sky doesn't choose between beauty & darkness - it holds both as day becomes night.

When we practice mindfulness in grief, we stop trying to "fix" what we feel or rank our emotions as good or bad. Grief and gratitude can exist in the same moment. I can grieve the absence of these souls while simultaneously being grateful they existed at all. I can mourn the conversations we won't have and treasure the ones we did. Mindfulness teaches us that feelings aren't meant to be sorted into neat categories. We can hold contradictions - sorrow & appreciation, loss & love - all at once. That's not confusion - that's wholeness.

Acceptance through mindful awareness means being present with what is, not resisting it. The sunset doesn't resist becoming evening. The day doesn't fight the darkness. When we practice mindfulness, we learn to observe the flow of life without struggling against its natural rhythms.

Acceptance isn't about being okay with death or numbing the pain. It's about meeting loss with open awareness rather than resistance. It's watching the moment unfold without denying the grief, without wishing it away. This presence - this willingness to witness without running from pain - is where real peace begins to emerge.

Mindfulness reveals that life itself is this constant transition. We often cling to moments, wishing they would stay, resisting the inevitable changes. But when we observe with mindfulness - truly watch - we see that everything flows. Birth & death, meeting & parting, seasons turning.

Standing here watching the light fade, I understood that those we've lost were part of my light - & that light doesn't disappear when they do. It transforms. Mindfulness teaches us to see this transformation, to notice how their presence continues to shape us, in the memories they left behind that doesn't have an expiration date.

The sky is still beautiful as it darkens. The water still reflects what remains. The trees still stand. And so do we...

Perhaps that's what it means to be alive.

To hold it all.

The light & the dark.

The gratitude & the grief.

The presence & the absence.

This season has taught me much.

About what truly matters.

About the complexity of loss - how we can grieve & feel relief all at once. About remaining open despite it all.

What is it teaching you?

🌷 from Linda's desk @ Tulip Meadows 🌷