It’s a full moon, a new month also. What better time to shine? Don’t let the darkness from your past block the light and joy in your present. You are light and what’s the duty of light ? To shine!

We all have an inner light, which when translating I’ll say, we tend to call it “a dream”, within us. This is something important for each of us to know, nurture, and empower.

Dreams are what move us forward when all else seems to be against us. It’s the spark that lights our way in the darkest moments of our lives. It’s what keeps us hopeful when everyone else says to give up. It’s what warms us from the inside, when the world is cold and hostile. In recent times during the pandemic, if you were observant you could see how many creatives explored and showed different abilities, talents and skills. The isolation definitely helped with that.

Having a dream is how one justifies our existence. Acting on the dream justifies having a life. Having a dream and not letting it go dim, is having a gift and not shining bright, having a vision of how you want your world to be and not taking action. Shining bright requires us to act on it, otherwise it become dim, or worse yet, go out.

How bright are your dreams? What lights your way when all seems dark? Do they shine so brightly that others can see the light radiating from you, or do you look like the light has left your eyes? Have you lost sight of your dreams? Have you failed to act on them for a long time?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. – Martin Luther King Jr.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been there quite a number of times. From the breakup of my first relationship to my career as an artist, from hating myself to losing my job, I’ve ended up in some very dark places with my light completely out.

However, in each and every time, there has been someone or something to help me find my way, and to relight my light, but I didn’t notice them as I was lost, blind and so unready to receive them and their gift and when I became ready my gift found me and I did it myself.

What I hope you can see is how precious this gift is to others. Perhaps you have even been the recipient of this gift in your lifetime. Remember what it felt like to you, and imagine what it would have been like without others to help you. You can be that helper to others, the question is will you do it?

Sometimes, on rare occasions, you can actually do this for yourself. Like I did for myself. However, most of the time it takes outside intervention. While it is usually a friend, associate or family member, sometimes the person who relights your light is a complete stranger and I’ve seen this happen to people a lot.

No matter how you eventually do it, even if all you do is get their attention, and get them thinking about trying to find their light again, you have done a great thing for them. Sometimes, with proper motivation, they can fight their way back. Other times, it leaves them receptive to the next person who tries to help them.

How does one help someone who has lost their light? That would depend on the person, your existing relationship, and your interpersonal skills. If you notice a friend seems particularly withdrawn, you can talk to them. Starting with general topics and then try to get to what is troubling them.

With a stranger, establishing communication may be much more difficult, but at least stop for a moment and say “Hi!” to them. How you proceed from there is up to you, but I would hope you could manage to help them, if only just a tiny little bit. That may totally be what your role on earth was for the day.

We tend to overlook the small things, and we forget the Devil is in the details. The small gestures, kindness and even conversations we have could be the light you need to shine brightly to illuminate and even better heal a brother or a sister just like yourself.

Shine your light in all the ways you think you can. This is unlimited. There is no specific way, all ways lead home.