I’m writing this just past the hour of the solstice, the hour at which the earth reaches its fullest or maximum axial tilt toward or away from the sun. For us in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice is shortest day of the year; for those in the southern hemisphere, it’s the longest day of the year.

Regardless of where you are in the world, the solstice signals a shift. It’s one of the reliable rhythms of nature, and I believe it offers us an invitation to step back. A chance to turn inward and see where and how our lives may also need to shift.

These are the questions that feel important to me this time of year:

What do I know now about myself in this world that I may not have known, or fully realized, six months ago? How does that knowing invite me to face the next six months?

There will always be things in the world, external circumstances, that arrive unbidden and ask us to answer important questions about ourselves.

And, we can also be inspired by how nature cycles and continues. We can take pause to look inside - to see what we know and what we long for.

So that we may continue walking toward that which is calling us.