Finding the Light That Never Left

There have been seasons in my life that felt impossibly dark.

The kind of darkness where I wasn’t wondering how I would make it through the next day. I was wondering how I would make it through the next breath.

Everything around me felt suffocating.

And yet, every single time, there was a small glimmer.

Sometimes it felt like hope.

Sometimes it felt like peace.

Sometimes it was simply the quiet knowing that, somehow, I would be okay.

Over the years, those moments became familiar enough that they slowly turned into rituals. Not rituals that erased the darkness, but rituals that reminded me of what remained true even while I was standing in it.

One of those reminders came through loving-kindness meditation. It invited me to remember that every person, even those who have hurt me, longs for many of the same things I do. To be loved. To feel safe. To find happiness. Holding that perspective softened something inside me. Compassion became possible where resentment had once lived.

Another reminder came through forgiveness.

I discovered that forgiveness was never about excusing another person’s actions. It was about loosening the grip those actions had on my own heart.

As forgiveness grew, kindness quietly appeared beside it.

Not because kindness is easy.

Because it isn’t.

It is far easier to become bitter than it is to remain open. Far easier to seek revenge than to choose compassion. Kindness asks something much deeper of us. It asks us to protect what is still whole within ourselves.

Most recently, I found another unexpected guide: laughter yoga.

At first, it felt wonderfully ridiculous.

Then something shifted.

The laughter brought me back to the present moment. It interrupted the stories my mind was creating and reminded me to notice what was actually here.

The air filling my lungs.

The ground beneath my feet.

The simple truth that morning would come again.

The sun would rise.

The moon would continue reflecting its light into the night.

Life had never stopped moving.

Perhaps that has been the lesson all along.

The darkness has always been real.

But so has the light.

Reflection

When life feels overwhelming and it seems as though the light has disappeared, what practices, people, or quiet reminders help you remember that it is still there?