Gathering Light – Summer Solstice Reflections

I love the childrens book ‘Frederick’.

Frederick is part of a family of mice. All the other mice are very busy during the summer, collecting corn, gathering barley, nuts and berries for the winter.

Frederick in the meantime sits on a rock with his eyes closed (in a sense, he’s a meditator in mouse world). All the other mice look down on him, questioning why he doesn’t ‘work’.

Frederick replies: ‘I do work. I gather sunrays. I gather colours. I gather words.’

Then winter comes and at first the mice feast on their suplies and everyone is happy.

But then almost all supplies are used up and it’s getting cold in the cave.

The mice ask for Frederick’s supplies.

He makes them recall the warmth of the sun, tells them about the colours of the blue periwinkles, the red poppies, the yellow wheat and the green leaves. And then he tells them a poem. The mice feel nourished and warmed.

I believe this children’s book is (like most childrens books) secretly written for adults. It contains some very important messages.

It remind us of the value of things that can’t be immediately grasped.

It reminds us, that if we know, something is true and beautiful, and worth following up on, then we don’t need to wait for the approval of others to do it.

The approval may (or may not) come at a later time.

It reminds us of the power of sharing that which is beautiful.

As Frederick is collecting memories of sunny days, of colours, it’s important that we collect memories of that which nourishes us. Of moments in our lifes when we experienced courage, love and compassion. When we ourselves showed courage, love and compassion. So that when dark times come and dark thoughts creep in we can use these nourishing memories as an antidote.

Through collecting nourishing memories, we can challenge dark thoughts and take away their power over us. We can open up our inner box of sunrays, like Frederick, and meet these thoughts with memories of when we were brave, loving. When we received love from others.

This will help us to remember: the fear, the doubt, the anger is not who I AM. I am neither always courageous nor always timid, neither always compassionate nor always cynical. I am a human being, with all its light and shadows. And I can collect rays of light, like Frederick, to let my collection of nourishing memories grow.

Sometimes we confuse misplacing the key to our box with lack of light inside us. The light is always here – only sometimes, when we loose the key to our light box, we can’t access it. But this is part of being human – to sometimes forget where we put the key to open the box. The important thing is not to never loose the key, but to keep searching for it.