the moment between

Yesterday at 4:24 p.m. was the moment in between. That hour marked the summer solstice in Connecticut where I live. It is the pause between inhaling and exhaling. Or exhaling and inhaling. It’s the playground swing at the peak of its arc before it begins its descent. It’s water turning to ice or to steam. It’s a cusp, a threshold, the beginning of a return. No wonder ancients created all kinds of rituals around the solstices. It feels special.

Of course, it's simple astronomy. Yesterday, we had 15 hours and eight minutes of daylight. At the other end of the calendar in December, on the 21^st, we’ll have almost six hours less or about 9 hours of daylight. Today, if you stick your arm straight out and point to the spot where the sun comes over the horizon in the morning and turn clockwise, pointing straight ahead until you are pointing at the spot where the sun goes down, you’d trace a 245º angle in the air. On the winter solstice, that angle is 128º. Another way to picture it is the difference between 20 minutes after the hour (winter solstice hours of daylight) and 20 minutes before the hour (summer solstice hours of daylight).

But who needs arithmetic when you can just be in the mystery of the moment, the wonder of being part of it as it’s happening, that breathing rhythm of the planets and stars? Humans have built monuments to the sun for thousands of years from ancient times into the present. There is a deeply seated awareness that transcends facts and data points connecting us to the light of the sun. We feel our part in nature’s web of life and want to sway with the motion of all the heavenly bodies, swinging through that part of the dance that is the pause before the next move. And, you can do it right in your own space. You don’t need to travel to Peru or Thailand or England to feel it. Just close your eyes, spread your arms open wide, breath slowly and deeply for five or ten breaths. Imagine the sun in you. Imagine your light warming you from without and within just like sunlight on a summer day. Gently bring your arms together toward your self and place your hands on your heart for a few breaths. Feel the pause in between. Feel your light in every moment.

Annual ritual or arithmetic, it doesn’t really matter; take your pick. You are nature. You are made of stardust. Let your light shine.

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6/22/2026