It Only Takes A Smile

“Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.”-Nelson Mandela

I love the sun. When I was a child, my mother would always say “the sun loves you.”  I am half Filipino, and generally have tanned skin that rarely burns.   The sun is my life force, particularly in the dreary months of January and February in cold parts of the world.  I’ve been living in the UK for 8 ½ years, and now Paris.  On the shortest day of the year, the sun seems to set nearly close to 330 pm!  There is little day, and along with that it can feel as if there is little hope. I long for every moment with the sun, when she peaks out from hiding.  

But currently I am in California, a place I used to live.  There is a heat wave where it is near 30 degrees Celsius (practically 90 degrees Fahrenheit).  Although I love the sun, it’s almost too much for me at the moment.  I didn’t pack properly and my unexposed skin seems to burn slightly easier having lived in Northern Europe a bit too long. 

Despite this I am navigating my moments with the sun. I wake up with her as she stretches over the downtown Los Angeles horizon and slowly brightens the light in my bedroom.  She seems to wake up earlier here than in Paris.  I have crept down outside after my morning daily discipline routines are done, and spend time with her before she gets to her peak.  

It’s interesting, although the sun traditionally has been known to have more of a masculine energy, and the moon feminine, I still call the sun “her.”  In the English language, we don’t use these masculine and feminine articles, but in the romance languages it’s necessary.  Everything is categorized as masculine or feminine, for example:

                                     Sun                               Moon

Spanish               el sol (masc)                          la luna (fem)

French                le soleil (masc)                      la lune (fem)

For some reason, in my heart, I seem to view the Sun and the Moon both as feminine entities.  This may be due to their life giving energies, which are the foundation of our days.  Yet even in yoga, the Sun is seen as more of a masculine yang energy: doing, active, busy, productive.  The Moon is more feminine yin energy: reflective, slower pace, and intuitive.  But when I lay in the sun after long periods without her, I am not busy.  I am interacting with the sun in a feminine way.  I am taking her in, simply being versus doing.  I am receptive to what she wants to give me.  Perhaps this is why I tend to idealize the sun as her, especially when there have been long moments without her.  

It’s easy to forget how much I appreciate the sun, when I’ve lived in places like Hawaii and California.  The sun is a constant that is taken for granted, and is only missed during a period of endless cloudy days.  But when you reside in a dreary city or country, the sun does become an old friend that you are catching up with.  You don’t want the day to end.  

And so today I sit in the sun, take her in, and embrace our sacred moments together (before she reaches her peak).  

I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days.
Henry David Thoreau