Could it be that it is in your greatest moments of loneliness, you are most called to be by yourself because there is something stirring within that seeks your undivided attention and perhaps has a message for you?

Out of fear, we learn to override our darkness or operate over the top of it. Here's the problem with this strategy: Suppressing our shadow doesn't vanquished it, it only pushes it off the screen of our conscious awareness.

Both of these exercises can be used any time you feel the need to shine more light into your life and dispel the darkness -- or when you would simply like a quick energetic lift.

This week leading up to the Winter Solstice is the darkest of the year. True, the week following the solstice is just as dark, but the energy is different.

Is it any wonder that in December, the darkest month of all, we yearn for light? The physical reality of long nights and shortened days reverberates through us, affecting our emotional and spiritual states, as well.

We still have four more weeks until the Vernal Equinox, when we will emerge into the light. Let us use this remaining time of darkness well.

Light -- the radiance of spiritual illumination -- has always been celebrated by the world's religions. Yet like a season of the soul, the darker emotion of despair offers a different kind of illumination.

Solstice = Standing-Still-Sun Dec. 21st, we enter the belly of the night. Winter Solstice: We come to the portal that separates darkness from li...