Rays of Light
A Year of Noticing - Day 213
I had two vastly different experiences with rays of light today, one warm, fulfilling and pleasant, while the other felt noxious, upsetting and jarring to my entire body and nervous system.
After each junior high band performed at our local band festival, the performing group clustered on stage to have their picture taken. The photographer was miles away in the overhead balcony, and had a massive flash and screen to light up the performers for the picture.
The first time the flash went, it felt painful to my eyes. The students sitting near me groaned in pain with “uhh’s” and “ow’s” and “ugh’s” quietly echoing in chorus immediately after each flash.
My body writhed in time with their utterances, and by the third and fourth flash in a row, it felt like lasers were stabbing through my eyes to the back of the head, while simultaneously feeling nauseous and completely overwhelmed. I tried closing my eyes, but still the painful flashes of light seeped through my eyelids, jolting my body with each subsequent flash.
Conversely, while attending a book launch in the evening, I had been watching the shifting rays of sunlight stream through the windows. As the setting sun slowly dipped lower and lower in the sky, the rays of light streamed light magical starbursts of light through the branches of the tree.
While the photo wasn’t able to catch the rays of sunlight that reflected all the colours of the rainbow as it burst through the tree, I enjoyed sitting calming and quietly under these very bright, but comforting streams of light.
It wasn’t that this light was less bright than the flashes I experienced earlier in the day, but the steady stream washed over me with warmth, comfort and beauty. That was a moment I could linger in enjoyment for as long as the sun continued to stream through.
Rays of light, both vibrant and bright… but vastly different experiences of rays of light!
xo