A lot of us, myself included, tend to think about Daylight Savings time as just another hassle...an antiquated practice that doesn't fit with our modern lifestyle. We are no longer as bound by the sun, we have lights that keep our cities lit up into the wee hours of the morning when the sun rises, and darkness doesn't constrain us.
And it can be tedious to remember what day the clocks change. We adjust our lives and we don't really see the benefit. Those first few days are often a bit of a shock, as the clock tells us it's a certain time, but our brain tells us that "Yesterday it was dark at this time, but today it is light...something's not right here!"
Practically speaking, we may miss the benefits of daylight savings time, but I think we can reframe this practice to be something that fits better with our acknowledgement of the seasons and the turning wheel. Ultimately, Daylight Savings time was about recentering our days on the light, so that in our daily lives we saw more light.
Sure, there were many logistical and financial reasons for the change, but on a very primal level it was about keeping the light in the center of our days. We are in spring time now, so we are leaving the darker part of the year and really opening up and embracing brighter days, and I think that Daylight Savings is a great moment to stop and recognize the power of light in our lives.
Many people are effected by the lowered light in the winter. Not only is the sun not up as much, but it is often cold (and possibly weathery), so people stay inside more and are more bundled up. We aren't getting as much sunlight, and this has physical, biological effects on us. Many people also struggle emotionally with the lowered light, and winter can be a dark place because of it, on many levels.
Our ancestors were very concerned with the amount of light, and the question of whether or not the sun would rise in the morning was of vital importance to them. Of course, for all of us, if the sun didn't rise in the morning that would be catastrophic, but we now know that such an event is unlikely. We don't watch the sun go down at night and worry about whether or not there will be a dawn. For us, even though the amount of sunlight in a day may fluctuate, we take for granted that it will be there.
Choosing to think about Daylight Savings time in a different way allows us to focus on the positive, instead of the negative. So many people are in a funk for the week surrounding Daylight Savings time, because they are building it up to such a huge thing in their head, then continuing to let it effect them for days after the change has taken place.
If we instead think about it as a way to invite more light into our lives, it becomes and opportunity to not only reframe this one particular event, but also to start looking for other places in our lives where we might be looking at the negative side of things.
It is easy to get caught up in the negative things that influence us. They disrupt our lives, they make things harder, and they throw us off balance. But if we allow these occurrences to overwhelm us, to throw us into a negative emotional spiral, we loose control. We no longer are able to think clearly, and we are now stuck in this emotional response loop, where we tend to react with a knee-jerk emotional lashing out, which almost never has the desired effect, and in fact normally sinks us deeper into an undesired situation. It's the kind of thing that feeds on itself and just makes things worse.
But, we can choose to reframe, to deliberately look for the light in any situation, to seek out what is working instead of focusing on what isn't. Sometimes, to find the light, we have to take a step away, we have to take a breath, and we have to go inside ourselves instead of staying stuck in the outside situation. It takes work, and practice, but when we are able to do it, we can respond to things in a thoughtful, calm manner. The light that we found helps us keep our perspective and stay balanced.
It may seem like a little thing, but starting with Daylight Savings time and thinking about it not as a disruption of our life or a hassle, but instead a celebration of the returning light, helps us start to build those habits of reframing. We may also choose to take this day to seek out other places where we can look for the light, to actively work on being better.
So, before you start grumbling about changing your clocks, take a breath, and embrace more light in our days, and use that light to find more places to seek the positive! Look for the reframe, whenever you can, and step out of those negative feedback spirals.
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