The Longest Night

But there is hope!

Good day lovely people,

It’s been a while.

The UK and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere will be experiencing the shortest day of the year this Sunday. This also means facing the longest night.

But there is hope! Light will increase by 2–3 minutes every day after that.

We are also in Advent; the time where many reflect on the coming of the Messiah Christ, the light of the world that penetrated a darkness that could not comprehend it.

But light brings hope.

I have been in a fairly long night and am slowly emerging.
Thus the absence.
Life is unpredictable.
And so is the death.

Though inevitable

It’s how we dance through it or with it

that makes the difference

they say.

With the promise of light

I am finally sat back at my desk,

writing to you.

Photo by Samuele Sala Veni on Unsplash

I admire artists like Suleika Jaouad who are able to lean into creativity in the midst of their adversity. It is that essential to her being! But for me, when it comes to communicating with my subscribers, I tend to down tools. Get silent or very private. I vowed not to betray myself by not forcing myself through what has obviously been a painful time. I can only bow in respect to those like her that have the courage to keep on.

I might sing sporadically (at home), dance privately (if but for a moment), but in terms of creative output—in letting people know what’s going on in my head, heart, or in my world—not so much.

Maybe because there is sudden limited capacity and the body is keeping score, distributing the energy and focus where it is needed most.

Maybe my mindset simply goes into ‘nobody cares anyway, let me get on with it’.

But being philosophical, these kinds of crisis situations do sober you and give you a different perspective as you move out of the longest night towards brighter days.

And before any religious folk want to hurl scriptures, tell me it’s all part of the walk, to count it all joy or pick up my cross—

Let me state

I am aware of the times we are in.

It’s not transactional words or platitudes that I require.

I have not abandoned my self, my soul,

or “back-slidden”

and the creator has not abandoned me.

Some valleys you must go through alone

This was my initiation.

Thus ends the sermon.

In a sense, Suleika’s approach to creatively sharing her life and also her pain through adversity has turned it into a superpower. As she takes people with her on the journey, in her journaling club and other things it has helped others to process and heal alongside her. They too can share their stories.

And that’s what creativity is about.

Photo by Joseph Menjivar on Unsplash

As author, mentor, spiritual companion, and body intellectual Cynthia Winton-Henry states, ‘creativity is a birth right’.

She’s right!

We must find ways to engage with what is already within us—waiting to show us the way, regardless as to whether we see ourselves as creatives or not.

We are born to create.

In times of adversity, when I find it too challenging to jump on and share my reflections with the world as a ‘content creator’, I have other spaces, where I can be seen and act as witness for others who also need to be held and seen in their process.

finding spaces that care for the soul

I inhabit a world of Dance Chapels,
Ensoulment Coaches,
InterPlayers, and Spiritual Companions.
All soul care modalities.

Whether former clergy, artists, practitioners, academics, authors, etc.—the folk tend to their souls and embody their practice with sound, storytelling, movement, poetry, stillness, laughter, and play! Light a candle, dance your prayer on behalf of whomever- find the space to receive what we are sensing, what data, knowledge, and wisdom emerges from a body and go be love in all of that.

Shout out to The Hidden Monastery (this work I have spoken of in my previous posts).

These are alternative ways of knowing- away from the head and closer to the heart.

This is what I embrace. Now my season in theology is laid down to rest.

Another space is my African drumming circle once a week. There is something so powerful about drumming in synchronicity with others. As well as being part of community, it helps you to regulate emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. The group took part in a scientific experiment last week to measure impact (this included spitting into a tube). It’s been filmed to air on TV in the new year.

I am glad that I have had this chance to look at the spaces that have emerged to give this tremendously challenging year moments to be thankful for. And to be fair my gratitude jar is filled to the brim.

I am grateful for the people in my life, past and present. Those who come in and those who now go. The stranger who encouraged me to take a shower and go for a walk to a nice café; the person that knitted a cat and left it on a bench with the message, ‘I’m not lost, but all alone. If you like me, take me home!’. I did :) Every day there is something to be thankful for.

I Thank God for breath and life.

For those of us, hunkering down with your cosy socks, blankets, and water bottles as we fast approach the festive break, remember the longest night will soon be over; the light is coming.

Wherever you are on the spectrum of the season, we all hope for more light in the world.

Here’s to 2026!

Peace.

Natasha

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