Luminosity……….
Merriam Webster defines luminous as enlightening, glowing in light, illustrious, shining like a star. The photo in this blog is of luminarios which are common in New Mexico around Christmas. Originally they were candles incased in a paper bag…(for someone who lives in fire country it sounds a bit scary). In present time, they are strung on an electrical chord similar to Christmas Tree lights. My husband and I have spent a fair amount of time in New Mexico enjoying the sites of Taos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. When I first saw them, I had this feeling of joy …they were so uniquely beautiful and normally are strung across a pathway as in the photo above…so you could literally find your way to a church or shop by following the light.
The feeling we get in candle light or soft light is always with a background in darkness. It is the contrast that provides us with this calming, peaceful feeling…this glow of hope and joy that is ageless and timeless. The metaphor seems obvious – without the darkness there is no visible light…its hard to see candle light in the middle of a sunny spot. We appreciate light when we see it in the middle of a dark night as in starlight or in a room prepared for a lovely dinner or a ceremony or ritual that includes the light of candles.
The renaissance I have written about earlier this year is the birthing of a new era…a painful labor from a dark period whether it is the pandemic, racism, conflict or hatred that appears to be circling the globe. What we surely need to chart our path through this period is the luminosity of each of us- like a beacon for compassion, for understanding, for wisdom. Each of us possesses our own unique form of light, of joy and levity. Each of us has the chance to see things from a point of light that beckons us to lead a path for ourselves and others; that welcomes the new – the infinite possibilities that are waiting to appear.
Luminous is actually a quality we have within us and like a light switch with a dimmer, we can turn it to bright or dim it in fear and resignation. It isn’t a grandiose project – just a simple gesture, a kind word, a fun conversation, a gaze inward and upward to the source of all the light there is…this week have an intention to shine as only you can- for luminosity is what you truly are!
