The best healing and wellness support system we have is Nature. Yes, Mother Nature!
Here is the latest edition of 1 thing I’m doing, 2 things I’ve learnt and 3 things to explore lovingly created so you can live a happier, healthier and longer life. Much love, Sandy xx
1 THING I’M DOING
Light Always Defeats Darkness
This Friday, 21st June, marks the Winter Solstice for us Aussies and our Southern Hemisphere friends. As circadian health warriors, seasonal events like this are meaningful. They give us a moment to pause and acknowledge Nature’s rhythms.
The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight. We’ll experience roughly 9 hours and 32 minutes of daylight in Melbourne, although this varies depending on how far north or south you are. Hobart will have the lowest number of daylight hours around the country, with just 9 hours of light whilst Brisbanites will have 10 hours and 24 minutes – almost a whole hour more than me!
This is roughly 4 hours and 31 minutes less than the longest day of the year, which occurs on the summer solstice in December. You can check out your city’s daylength over at Time and Date.
Why The Winter Solstice Matters?
Whilst most people will spend the day, just like any other, but perhaps wearing a few more layers and grumbling about heading to and from work in the dark, the Solstice is a time of significance and reflection.
It is a time to acknowledge that darkness will always be defeated by a brighter side. That with each passing day from here on, our days will get a little longer as we head towards our beloved summertime.
This long night is also an opportunity for cleansing. A chance to look ahead to the year to come and begin again. It’s a time to reflect upon the parts in our life you want to shine more light on, the baggage you want to leave behind, the habits that cast a shadow over your life.
How to Celebrate the Winter Solstice
Here are some ideas on how to celebrate the Winter Solstice this week. These little rituals are a way we can about honor the slower, quieter rhythm of the season as Mama Nature tucks us in for the winter.
- Gather around a fire: Fire represents life and light so snuggling up around the warmth of a beautiful fire and golden embers is a perfect way to honour the Winter Solstice. If you have a fire pit, fireplace or even a little portable camping fire pit, this Winter Solstice is the night to get the fire going and digging into some Aussie S’mores.
- Lighting Candles: After sunset, light some candles in the house and bask in the beautiful glow. Spend some quiet moments reflecting on the year that’s been and the year that lies ahead.
- Cleanse: Just like we rake up our leaves and shovel them away, this is the time to toss out all the yuck, negative thoughts, bad habits and past mistakes. What’s done is done. Welcome in the new light of optimism, hope and encouragement.
- Write or Meditate: Both sitting quietly in meditation or writing in a journal give you the opportunity to reflect and celebrate the past year and year to come. Write a simple list of all the things you are grateful for over the past year; the days, people and moments that brought you joy. By expressing gratitude, we help to attract more positivity and success into our life as we raise our vibrations. You can also create another list of the things you hope for, in the coming year. Your dreams, ambitions and wishes are valid and by writing them down you are solidifying them in some way. This list will also be something beautiful to look back on, come next Winter Solstice and when we’re sitting here again.
The Winter Solstice is all about letting go of old thoughts and embracing a new start to the New Year. Even if it’s for just a moment, let’s give a nod to Mother Nature and how remarkable she is.
✔️ Action Item – The Winter Solstice is five days away. Starting planning now and decide on one thing you’d like to do to mark this special day.
2 THINGS I’VE LEARNT
The More Sun You Get…
The more sun you get, the more melatonin and melanin you’ll make.
The more melatonin and melanin you make, the better your mitochondria will operate.
The better your mitochondria operate, the better your body will function.
The better your body functions, the happier and healthier you’ll be.
This is a simple mantra to remember and to remind us that the sun is life.
The source of all life and food, the sun heals, warms, strengthens, and sustains us. Shining a light on darkness, it is precious gold and an expression of the beauty in our world.
I find it sad that so many people have become afraid of the sun and are denying themselves of this life force. Mother Nature has given us the sun as a gift. It is time to bask in the sun’s glory and warmth again; unafraid and happy.
✔️ Action Item –Try and spend more time outdoors especially during the Winter months. Remember, we weren’t designed to spend 99% of our time indoors and yet, that’s what most people do these days.
Morning Sunlight Exposure Improves Eye Sight
Want to improve your eyesight using something that’s 100% free, easily accessible, and natural? Go outside every morning and soak up some sunlight. A groundbreaking study found that just three minutes of exposure to deep red light once a week, when taken in the morning, could significantly boost declining eyesight. Yes, you heard it right — just three minutes! This means catching those early morning sun rays.
What’s even cooler? The boost from a single exposure of this deep red light lasted for up to a week. So, if you’re around 40 and noticing that your vision isn’t as sharp, getting some early morning sunshine could make the difference you’re looking for.
When we get to around 40 years of age, the cells in our eye’s retina begin to age, and the pace of this ageing is caused, in part, when our cell’s mitochondria, whose role is to produce energy (known as ATP) and boost cell function, also start to decline.
Mitochondrial density is greatest in our retina’s photoreceptor cells, which have high energy demands. As a result, the retina ages faster than other organs, with a 70% ATP reduction over life, causing a significant decline in photoreceptor function as they lack the energy to perform their normal role.
The sun gives off different rays during different times of the day so sunrise is the time when infra-red UV rays peaks. When tested in the study, people did not get the same results with afternoon sun exposure so it’s morning exposure that’s absolutely key to achieving improvements in declining vision. Why? Just like us, our mitochondria have shifting work patterns and do not respond in the same way to light in the afternoon.
It’s time to remember, the sun is our friend. It’s helped our ancestors thrive and survive and how we got to be here today. Mother Nature doesn’t make mistakes. She’s got you, and so do I.
✔️ Action Item: Make sure you’re up and at ’em early to enjoy the sunrise. Don’t worry if it’s overcast; Mother Nature works her magic, and the rays still get through. Let’s embrace the gifts she offers and start our days with a natural vision boost!
3 THINGS TO EXPLORE
Are You Willing To Pay The Price?
Everything we do either increases our probability of living a long and healthy life, or pushes us further away from it.
The more not so good choices we make, the more the chances are, that we’ll have to pay a biological price, at some point.
Bad choices and actions come in many shapes and form.
Too much junk food, junk light (artificial and LED light), lack of exercise, staying indoors all the time, not enough sunshine, toxic social media and mainstream TV, negative emotions (stress, anger, jealousy), harmful relationships, unfulfilling jobs, staying up late binging on Netflix.
Here’s to making more good choices and the people that teach us and inspire us to do so.
✔️ Action Item – Going through the list which ones stands out for you? Just like junk food, are there any other unhealthy habits you can shift? Pick one to try on this week.
Circadian Life App
In case you missed my June Top Picks email earlier this week, here is an app that’s definitely high on the explore list. Called Circadian Life, it is one of my most favourite-ist apps on the planet!!
Circadian Life is your circadian health BFF. This app gives you powerful insights and helps you plan your day so you can get the most out of it.
Circadian Life will let you know what time sunrise is, when it’s a good time to go for your UVA rise walk, when it’s best to get out and make Vitamin D, plus a bunch of other things. Everything is set to your location so it’s super personalised and helpful. Plus, you can set reminders for critical circadian events essential for your health and vitality which I love.
✔️ Action Item – If you want to improve your health and circadian rhythm, check out Circadian Life today. It’s like having a personal VA, helping you with what to do, when and why.
New Skin
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come”. – Joseph Campbell
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