The Season of Lights

Early on, long before Black Friday, the winter months were marked not by twinkling string lights wrapped around trees and along buildings, but by a different kind of light: a dwindling of daylight hours, as the shortest day of the year—the winter solstice—approached.In these ancient times, it was indeed the shifting hours of daylight that signaled the winter season. Having only natural light available for working and living, less light meant less work. And less work meant shorter days.As such, this season of less work and less light became a slower time. The short days and dark nights gave way to more time to prepare for the coming busyness of the next season when the light returned and the days lengthened again. Winter was a time for reflection on the past year and rumination around what the new season of light might bring.The time of working by only natural light has long since passed, and we now seem to constantly stretch the limits of our stamina with an “always-on” 24/7 mentality. But for us at Prism, this season of light is a needed reminder that slowing down, reflecting and being “more”, while allowing ourselves to “do less” is a necessary part of who we are.In fact, it is only in this slowing down that the infinite variety and beauty of the spectrum of life appears. A prism— our namesake— knows this truth, as it slows the waves of light and bends them ever so slightly in order to reveal the “rainbow” of colors. The result is a beautiful spectrum that is always there but invisible to the naked eye until it gets slowed down.In this season of shorter days and slower pace, our challenge and hope at Prism is that we all can bow to the slower pace, bend our ways to reflecting and doing less, and see more of what life offers us all.We hope each of you find time for the same.