For today, Sunday, December 21, 2025, in Mississippi Mills, Ontario, there are approximately 8 hours and 47 minutes of daylight, marking the Winter Solstice for the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day of the year.

While the celebrity of the Winter Solstice is its minority of sunshine, there are those such as I who prefer to distinguish it as the beginning of plenitude. Generally my instinct, when adapting to change, is to consider it a done matter and then look prosaically though confidently at what is to come. For me, getting in tune with the seasonal changes this year has highlighted not only the wonder of the transitions but also their precipitous character. Perhaps it is only the coincidence of these alterations with my accelerating old age that propels me to view the world with increased speed, revolution and evolution, including the metaphoric and natural determinations of living and dying, life and death, coming and going, from the sky to the earth and everything in between.

In brief, it all transpires so quickly. Hanging on to this orbiting mystery called life is for us all a challenge of sorts. When recalling events from 70 years or more ago, I marvel at the depth of the memories. I have no better explanation of life than anyone else. But I remain convinced there is only one way to go – and by that I mean, forward and upward, like the evolving patterns of sunlight (and in spite of the clouds).  If and when the pattern changes, then I shall no doubt regard it as a means of rejuvenating the swing to invigorate the recurring sphere.

It is for this reason that one is able to accommodate change.  There really is no other answer or meaning. Given the hardship, suffering, peril and injury so many people throughout the globe have had to endure, the only meaningful answer is assimilation while reluctantly hanging onto the whirling adaptation. I say this not philosophically but pragmatically. Our personal destiny may outlast that of others; but whatever our fate, it is our duty to fulfill it.  As I am wont to say, “The Universe is ultimately personal.” The Ups and Downs are strategic. We too have our seasons and orbits, our highs and lows, brightness and gloom.