Bring your own light to the darkness

Everybody has a little bit of light and dark in them and each one of us is in charge of the switch that can either illuminate us from within or plunge us into incomprehensible darkness. I learnt this from my younger daughter as she tried to make sense of the unfamiliar terrain she found herself in.

A new country, a new school, a new way of teaching and learning, a new home were just some of the things she was grappling with. Add to this, being away from friends and everything that was dear and familiar to her she suddenly found herself is a shadow cast by her longings for what was.

Although my daughter tried to find the ‘key’ outside, it was futile. She bought books, CDs, merchandise endorsed by pop stars, examined and rearranged what was happening to her externally but sadly nothing worked. She became irritable and unhappy. The more she looked outside the darker the inside seemed to be.

Finally, she heard the story of the man looking for his keys. Stories are light and light is priceless in a world so dark. All of us have heard the story of a man looking for the keys of his house under a street light. When he was questioned by an onlooker; “where did you lose the keys?'', he honestly replied “inside my house”. The baffled bystander asked again; “Then why are you looking for it outside the house?” The man replied “Inside my house there is darkness, at least here there is some light.”

All of a sudden things changed. She learnt pointing outside never helps; it is only pointing inwards that can bring some light. She made goals, looked at what really made her happy, took strength from her memories and confidence from her past. She considered what she could control and made an attempt to let go of what she couldn't. This changed perspective made her examine things both big and small things in a new light. She began to see the universe as a great thought rather than a great machine.

I could not help basking in her newfound acceptance and happiness. Sometimes, as we light our own way forward we realise, the deeper the shadow the brighter is the light.