Showing Up Whole

Choosing Light in the Longest Night: Solstice Reflections for When Life is Overwhelming

• Season 5 • Episode 18

Share episode

Send us a text

The solstice isn’t just a single day. 

It’s a season that invites us to slow down, reflect, and consciously choose light, even when life feels heavy.

In this episode of Showing Up Whole, Christina explores the deeper meaning of the solstice and what it asks of us during uncertain and emotionally intense times. With so much darkness, pressure, and noise in the world, this conversation gently guides you back to your inner light, your intuition, and the quiet wisdom within you.

This episode is for the woman who feels tired of forcing goals, overwhelmed by expectations, or disconnected from herself. Together, we explore how choosing light isn’t about bypassing reality, but about anchoring into who you truly are beneath the chaos.

Whether you’re in the Northern Hemisphere experiencing the longest night or the Southern Hemisphere living in the height of light, this episode offers grounding, reassurance, and a reminder that your inner fire still burns.

In This Episode, We Explore:

  • The solstice as a season of reflection, not a one-day event
  • What it truly means to choose light during dark times
  • How pressure-driven planning impacts the nervous system
  • Why intuition matters even when you don’t always follow it
  • The difference between outward light and embodied inner light
  • Simple, practical ways to reconnect with what lights you up

Reflection to Sit With:
What feels heavy right now?
What feels light?
And what would it look like to choose yourself, even in a small way?

Sometimes choosing light is as simple as a breath, a pause, or giving yourself permission to let something go.

Resources Mentioned:

 Solstice Gathering – December 21
A guided space to reconnect with your inner light.

 Create an Intentional New Year Workshop
A gentle, heart-led alternative to goal setting.
Live online dates: January 3rd & January 8th
Replay and guided workbook included.

Learn more at:
spirituallyawareliving.com/new-year

Sending you love, light, ease and flow for the solstice and the season ahead.

Christina Fletcher is a Spiritual Alignment coach, energy worker, author, speaker and host of the podcast Showing Up Whole.
She specialises in practical spirituality and integrating inner work with outer living, so you can get self development off of the hobby shelf and integrated as a powerful fuel to your life.

Through mindset, spiritual connection, intuitive guidance, manifestation, and mindfulness techniques Christina helps her clients overcome overwhelm and shame to find a place of flow, ease, and deep heart-centered connection.
Christina has been a spiritual alignment coach, healer and spiritually aware parent coach for 7 years and trained in Therapeutic Touch 8 years ago. She is also a meditation teacher and speaker.
For more information please visit her website www.spirituallyawareliving.com

Want to uncover where you need the most energy alignment?
Take her new Energy Alignment Quiz to identify which of your energetic worlds (mind, body, heart or spirit) needs aligning the most!

Or Follow her on her social media accounts:
Facebook
Instagram
or
Linkedin...

Christina:

Welcome back to Showing Up Whole, the place where we discuss alignment in mind, body, heart, and spirit in every aspect of our lives. And today we are talking about this season, the solstice, the time of light. It's not just a one-day event. We need to acknowledge what the solstice invites from us and asks us to do. And hi, welcome back. You know, it really is heading to that end of the year. And I think that it's a natural tendency to start doing some deep reflection on what the year has been and what the year has taught. And I'm not gonna lie, this year has been filled with some very heavy and dark themes. There's no getting away from it. It's not just an element of stress, but there has been a lot of tragedy in this world of ours. There has been a lot of darkness, and we find ourselves at a time of the solstice, which is all about acknowledging the dark itself. So, in case you didn't know, you know, the solstice is all about the longest night. It is the time where our daylight hours is of the shortest here in the uh northern hemisphere. And at the same time, if you are in the southern hemisphere and you're listening to this in Australia, I don't want you to think that that disregards you. Rather, it is actually still acknowledging about the opposite of dark, which is light. So in the southern hemisphere, you are experiencing your longest day. And within that, that beautiful counterbalance of this, it's really important to acknowledge the work we are all asked to do. So one of the themes that have really shown up for me this year is also that of choice. I was reflecting on the fact that my word of the year that I chose was curiosity. And it served me really well this year. I won't lie, it has been a very expansive exploration this year. I have focused a lot on data gathering, which you've heard me talk about. I have focused on opening up a lot of doors, saying yes to lots of things, and being curious on what that looks like and how it unfolds. It's been exciting, it's been exhilarating, it's been eye-opening. I have walked down avenues that I didn't really know I would ever walk down. I have explored new places, which has expanded my horizons. My family and I have really been curious and it's been wonderful. And I sat back, as I do at the end of the year, every year, and I started to, I am starting to piece together my intentions. I can feel the simmering of them. I'm not quite ready to set those intentions yet. Um, of course, my my annual workshop hasn't happened yet, which is usually around the same time that I do this work, but I am I am starting to poke. I'm getting curious about my curiosity. And I am exploring what curiosity has meant this year for me. And I've realized that within that there is the focus of choice. And choice is, of course, one of my very favorite themes. Choice, decision, alignment. These are all parts of the same puzzle. It's the same path. In order to align to the person that we want to be, we have to choose to be them. And then we find ourselves back into the solstice. The idea of choosing light even in the longest night, in the darkest times. That is what fundamentally the solstice is about. The solstice is about choosing light, even if you can't see it. The focus is on choosing to be light even in dark times. The focus of the solstice and what it asks of us is to actually believe in the light that we cannot see necessarily, and to really acknowledge the light of who we are. In energy work, we talk about the solar plexus, we talk about our inner fire. And during summer solstice, which if you're in Australia, that's what you're having, talked about in the summer solstice, we talked about really being in our inner fire, of actually shining out as the light we are. So the summer solstice to me is always about that outward expression of light. And then it turns into the winter solstice, it turns into about refueling, replenishing, and acknowledging the light that we are. So, what does that even mean? What in this poetic jargon can we actually really do practically to embody our light? Because there is a lot of chaos out there. We are in a very scrambly time. Even energetically, we are experiencing lots of solar flares and we are experiencing three eye atlas and we are experiencing all these different little mysteries that kind of have things feeling a little scrambly. Then we also have a lot of um chaos and crisis in the world itself. So, how do we actually embody light when we don't necessarily know how to look at it? And actually, a little word on that. You know, over our entire lives, I think that we all have been exposed to different versions of light. I was talking to someone about actually celebrating the holiday season and how it doesn't always necessarily feel the same way it did when you were a child, you know, or when even when you were, you know, five, six years ago, the things don't land quite the same. Up until about five, six years ago, I believe that we had a lot of outward show of light. We had, we were, we were given a lot of things to lock our attention on. It was like we could anchor in on that and this, and there was um a something that we could give our attention to that would help us resonate with the light we are. It was like there was something outward from us that would make it all a little bit easier to tap into our truest selves and our soul light. And now the world is different. And that's not a bad thing. We chose to come at this time, we have chosen to be the people we are, and in that choice, which we made before we decided to become human, in that choice, we did so because we wanted to be able to find it without that outward show. We are tapping in to who we really are, the truest versions of ourselves, that light who we are. Free fall. We don't need the guide ropes any longer. We don't need the safety net. We know how to walk that tight rope, even if you don't think you do. Underneath, there is this fire within all of us that we just have to choose and find the courage to listen to. You know, I talk to a number of people every week, and some theme that has often come up, and even just recently, I was just speaking to someone about this, and we're talking about the instinct to do something, or they were following their inner voice, and then they didn't listen to what their intuition told them. And they felt a lot of grief and they felt a lot of shame and they felt a lot of weight that they hadn't listened. Whereas I, hearing upon this, almost wanted to celebrate them because what they didn't realize was the fact that they had heard their inner voice. Sure, maybe they hadn't been courageous enough or brave enough or bold enough to listen to it, but that inner voice, even when you've betrayed it, even when you've not listened to it, by acknowledging that you heard it, you are strengthening the muscle. We don't always make the right choice for ourselves. But by acknowledging that, we shine a light on what could have been and what we would like to do next time. All right, maybe I'm maybe I'm running the gamut. It is solstice season, and that is what solstice season is all about. It's about this digging things up and acknowledging it and asking ourselves, where is the light? What is the light that we need in this moment in time? What is the light of you? And how what do you need this year? Maybe unlike any other year, what do you need to help your light shine? It's amazing how it can be the subtlest things. It might be a five-minute walk to really be able to tap into your light. It might be a special cup of tea. It might be finding a collection of friends that you just chat with and create laughter. It's about maybe doing a burning ritual where you actually let go of all of the weight or shadows of your life and you allow them to be released up to the universe, to the wholeness of light. There's so many different ways. And I think that is one of the things that can feel confusing at this time is because for so long before we had this structure of how we celebrated things and how we acknowledged things, and now it's feeling contrived. Now it's feeling like a should or pressured because we are living in a time in our world where actually individual light is of the utmost importance. Individual light and learning how to tap in and trust and have confidence and be brave enough to shine out your light. The counterbalance of that is there. We have cancel culture, we have a lot of harsh judgments out there, we have a lot of um struggles even in free speech. So there is a societal framework that's actually suggesting it's not a good idea to stand in your own individuality. Ooh, that should actually be an episode in itself. But we are we are being asked to mute our individual lights because for some reason people think that that is going to be something that needs to be squashed. But the counterbalance of that is the fact that you know what? You are here to be your individual light. You are unique, you are specific. You literally have created your own self through your experiences, through your observations. You are different. I don't know how often I've talked about this on this podcast, but you know, I do see every single individual person as a cup of tea. You know, the pure energy of our soul light, the light that flows individually to each one of us. We come through these bodies, but through this life experience, through this human experience, that's the infusion of you. You experience, you observe, you feel, you make decisions, you make choices, you align, and that energy soaks through every single one of those experiences, even the wrong ones. And as you do, you infuse that energy with you. The flavor gets stronger and stronger and stronger, and the essence of you imprints on the energy. Cup of tea. And you can never take the tea out of the water. So even upon lifetime, upon lifetime, upon lifetime, that infusion of you changes, transforms, but never goes away. So you are unique, you are important, and your light transforms this world. And if we can align our lights and choose to be our individual lights, then that gets shined out into the dark. And when that happens, the dark can't stay the same. So, what does all that look like? Here we have the solstice. And within the solstice, it's a question of, and I don't want you to think of the solstice as like just the one day. The solstice paints through this entire holiday season because it is a time of actually taking steps back and actually acknowledging our truest, deepest self. It's about actually reigniting that light, listening to that light, throwing a bit of fuel on that light and saying, yes, I choose it. I choose to be my light. I choose to no longer be flaring about in the dark, stumbling around. I choose light. Okay. I I do acknowledge the fact that in this, it can feel a little scrambly. And I think even within that, I want to point out that this is the mystical time of year. This is the time where everyone in the world is trying to put intellectual concepts onto something that they're feeling, something they're feeling called to, something that's pulling you forward. So even if you're kind of listening to this, kind of going, okay, wait, what am I supposed to do? I don't want you to feel pressure to actually go and do it. Rather, I want to just let this become an invitation to get to know your light deeper. So let's try to make this a little bit more practical. Um, I'm just gonna grab a drink of water and then we will dive into how to actually really step into your light. How do you actually fuel your light so that you can have it as an anchor? Can you imagine what that would feel like? To have your own self, your essence, who you are, that little glimmer that you sometimes catch in the mirror, that sense of yourself that you just actually more become aware of when you've betrayed it and let yourself down. Who are you letting down? How do you drop your light? What are the shadows sneaking in? What if you could actually remove those shadows, remove the betrayal and actually listen, trust, and be that version of you, that light of you as an anchor so that that's what you always return to? That's who you fall into as a default every day. Now that's an intention. Let's explore that more in just a minute. Does the idea of goal setting and planning a new year make you feel tired before you even started? Like you've done all the vision boards, the planners, the promises to yourself, and somehow the years just blur together anyway. If that's you, there's nothing wrong with you. It's because we were taught to plan with our heads and not our hearts. Pressure-driven goals don't inspire change, they just trigger our nervous system. And when that happens, we cling even harder to the familiar, even when it's not working. Real change only happens when we feel safe, when we slow down, and when we listen to who we actually are beneath the noise. That's why every year women return to my create an intentional new year workshop experience. Because it's not planning, it's a whole body system reset. We gently review the year that's been, release what's ready to go, and consciously carry forward the gold of the year. Intentions come from feeling, not plans or force. So your mind can finally rest instead of policing yet another set of rules. Through reflection, meditation, some energy clearing, and also community, your heart and soul are given the space to make the plans. And you leave with clarity, alignment, and a year that truly feels different. This year, I'm offering two online dates, one January 3rd and the other January 8th, so you can choose which works for you. And afterwards, a replay and beautifully guided workbook will also be sent out to you. Why not let this year be the one that your soul makes the plans and watch how life begins to meet you there? You can sign up for this workshop over at spirituallyware living.com backslash new year and learn all about it. I look forward to creating your year with you. Okay, so whereabouts are we? Light, light, light, light. We are all individual lights. That light is our inner fire. That light is who we are. But over the course of a year, that is filling and fueling and having a lot of stuff thrown on top of it. And even throughout our course of our lives, layer upon layer upon layer upon layer gets stacked upon that light. And as it gets stacked upon that light, we can often lose sight of who what that light truly, truly is. A lot of shoulds get thrown in there, a lot of other people's opinions, a lot of different aspects of life, busyness, chaos, um, senses of letting others down or letting ourselves down. What is your light? And how do you use this period of time to truly embody it? Well, let's let's just explore one thing that you don't do, which is what we usually do. Rush. This time of year, it's usually a question of pumping it up. What do I do to make this person happy? What do I buy to make this person happy? What will they think about this? How do I actually get all of the to-dos done? How do I actually pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure? There will always be a bit of that, of course. I'm not saying don't celebrate the season with your family. That would be ridiculous. And I'm not saying don't do certain things, but I am giving you permission to actually take a step back and actually ask, what need do you what can you let go of? Give yourself permission to actually let go of something that actually doesn't serve you and your light. If you actually put your hand on your heart and ask yourself what your light is, what on your to-do list, what on your goals or plans for the next few weeks, what There feels the opposite of that. What makes you feel extra tired? What makes you feel extra heavy? And is there a way that you can let that go? You have to give yourself space for your light. Now, how do you really embody your light though? You start with that. Hand on heart. What is my light? Who am I really? How does it feel to be me? What is my light trying to tell me right now? Make sure your nervous system's regulated. Ground your feet. Take a few deep breaths. And know that even by regulating your nervous system, by choosing to regulate your nervous system, because it's all a choice, by choosing to regulate your nervous system, by choosing to feel better, by choosing to calm down, by choosing to focus on your breath, by choosing to focus on your heart, you are being in your light. Have you ever looked at someone's aura? You know, if you're like looking at someone and against a white background, and all of a sudden you just see a bit of a white light against them, and you're talking to them, and all of a sudden they get really excited about whatever they're talking about. And you watch as their light around them, just they just seem to glow. When you are in alignment with yourself, when you are living your light, you glow. So it's an interesting thing to explore what, like we use it in phrases, don't we? What lights you up? What lights you up? Who are you? What makes you breathe in satisfaction? What makes you expand and feel yourself more in flow? Is it when you are laughing, playing? Is it when you are in deep quiet? Is it when you are outside? Is it in when you're in nature? Is it when you are cooking or baking? Is it when you're listening to certain music, certain podcasts? What lights you up? This is not just, oh yeah, do something you love because it makes you feel good. It's not what this is. Rather, it is looking for the mystery and the indicators of what actually your heart and soul is telling you. It's not about you giving your soul something, it's rather giving yourself the space, the moment, to listen to your soul. And as you listen to your soul, allow her to light up. Your soul, your soul light, your inner light, your inner fire. It's all connected. So for the solstice, I'm inviting you to consider your divine spark of light that's within you. We talk about the longest night. We talk about the darkness. Well, it's amazing how often the darkness isn't what actually we think darkness is. The darkness can actually just be the murky pattern, mundane living of our lives. It's the pulling ourselves out of bed, having the alarm, focusing on just the dreary, draining, droning on. The darkness can just be the heaviness that we carry. And choosing light, choosing light can often be found in actually finding joy when it makes no sense to. Finding something that makes us sparkle, even though we have a lot of things going on, or even though we actually have a lot of challenges. And he said that one of the things that struck him of why he lived for so long was just that he said, you know what? No matter what's happening in your life, you have there's no reason why you can't find a little bit of joy somewhere. That's his light. His light equals joy, his light equals laughter, his light equals song and dance. That's him. You watch as he just sparkles and lights up, even at a hundred years old. We have to appreciate our inner lights. We have to tend to them and listen to them. And we can't insist what they are. We can't put a framework on our lights and say, no, this is actually what needs to light you up. It's it's Christmas time. This is a Christmas song you like. Light it up, light it up, light it up. It doesn't work that way. It has to be an observance. It has to be observing yourself and actually asking yourself, what really lights me up? And giving yourself permission for it to be something absurd, something that makes no sense, something that doesn't light anyone else up. It doesn't matter. What lights you up? What is your light? We have to give ourselves permission to be our individual selves, to think ways that no one else thinks, or at least we perceive no one else thinks. We have to choose to be true to ourselves. We have to choose to listen to that still small voice, to actually embody what we're being guided to. We have to even choose to even just ask ourselves that. You might be like, Christina, I have no idea what you're talking about. And that's actually okay. Because even just acknowledging that you don't know what I'm talking about means that you're not pretending, means you're not faking it. Rather, you're choosing to get curious. Like I said this year, curiosity was a great theme of me. I learned a lot about myself and I learned a lot what lit me up. And I'm really excited to use that data and that information to create intentions for the new year. So explore yourself. Yeah, it's a busy time of year. So what? Put your hand on your heart and ask yourself, how am I feeling about this right now? Does this light me up? Or no? Just even the information is an intention. Just even the question is an acknowledgement of your light, and your light will respond. It actually just starts with that. How am I feeling about this right now? Does this feel heavy or does it feel light? How can I embellish the good feelings? How can I focus on the things that are working? Even if right now I just see the longest night, even if right now I can only see the challenges. What, where can I find the light? The pursuit, the intention, the exploration, the curiosity, all of that enhances your light and it tells your soul, I'm listening, I'm ready, I'm here, I want to, I'm curious. It's the solstice, bring it on. Let's light the fire and see what we stoke up. So, yeah, no matter how busy you are, and I get that you're busy, no matter how frantic things are, and I get that things frantic, no matter how dire things may be, and I know that things can feel dire, I want you to know that you are light, that your soul beams bright. And as it beams out, it can transform the world. Your individual soul can transform the world. And then I ask you, I ask you to consider the choice within that. I ask you to choose your light. And I actually, even more than um giving you permission or encouraging you to, I'm asking you to choose your light. Because there's a lot of confusion in this world. There is a lot of shoulds and a lot of people feeling pulled in all directions because they don't know what to follow. And I want to ask you to choose your light, your perspective, your guidance, your spiritual connection, your spiritual interpretation, your light. Choose what feels like love to you. Choose what feels like light to you. Choose to feel what feels like joy to you. Choose to live as your best self. Without any pressure, without any judgment, we all have bad days. We all forget our light sometimes. That's what helps us grow. But to choose to be true to you and to listen and to keep checking in with yourself. What feels heavy right now? What feels like light? What brings you joy? What lights you up? And doesn't have to be big move, big movements. It can be as simple as drinking a nice cup of tea, or it can be as quiet and as inner helpful as deep breath and hand on heart and telling yourself that you're there. Love yourself a little deeper, especially during this season. Give yourself permission to breathe deep into your inner light. I hope you'll join me. If you're listening to this before the solstice, I will be meeting everybody on the solstice on December 21st, and we will be connecting to our lights and allowing them to shine out. At the same time, if intention setting is what you're looking for, if you are truly craving a sense of direction and choice, then I want to invite you to my Create an Intentional New Year workshop, which I offer every year. This year I'm offering it twice actually online. And we will be charting forth a path, curiosity from the year before, exploring what worked, exploring what didn't, releasing what didn't, clearing the energy out, and setting a deeper sense of intention, of anchoring, and of choice for the year to come. You can find all about that over on my website, spirituallyaware living.com backslash new year, or in the show notes below. And no matter what, I'm sending you all my joy, love, and light for the solstice and the season ahead. Be well.