Sometimes the most profound messages come in the simplest packages.

My daughter brings home piles of paper every day, and I discovered this in the middle of one of those piles:

 

And on the back was this:

(In case you need help deciphering a 5-year-old’s artwork, that’s a picture of her turning on the light.)

Finding this reminded me that light is everywhere.

It’s there waiting to be found (or find you) in the most unexpected places.

Admiring her picture also made me wonder if finding that light could really be as natural as saying, “Hey, it’s dark in here. Let me find the light.” And then trusting that you’ll find that switch. You don’t need to know how or why it’s there or how or why it works, just that it is and it does.

I think it can be.

I find the light.

To me, this means we can find the traces of hope in the hopeless, a thread of inspiration in the lifeless.

We have the ability to find the smallest thing to give thanks for. The fleck of color that fills our heart with song. @ralph_leslie (Click to Tweet!)

I find the light. 

It’s our path to truth and hope and wisdom.

Even if we can’t see it now, we can trust that it’s there. There’s that small something positive waiting like a switch. There’s the lesson in the pain. An insight in the setback. A memory about to be made in any given moment.

You might not know where or what or when, but it’s there eagerly awaiting the moment you find each other.

The more you can remember this, the more it becomes a part of your story. Like a line in the definition of you.

Here, try it out. “Hi, I’m {insert your name}, and I find the light.”

It gives me goosebumps to even write it.

Knowing this, that it’s part of our very DNA, changes everything.

It means that we don’t have to be so afraid of the dark. We don’t need to try to outrun it. We don’t need to fight it off. We don’t need to protect ourselves quite so much. Or compete quite so much.

Knowing this means that we can be more of ourselves more often.

We can forgive more.

Love more.

Trust more.

Experience more.

Let go and enjoy more.

Because we know that we find the light.

Like a flower in the dawn,
I will find the light.

Like a voyager at sea,
I will find the light.

Like a moth at summer’s dusk,
I will find the light.

Like a child waking from sleep,
I will find the light.

No matter how wide the sea, deep the tunnel, or long the night,
I will find the light.

This I know above all else,
I will find the light.

Just as the light finds me.

-wayfarer’s song

To me, this means everything.

Leave a comment and share: What does it mean to you to find the light? And how do you know when you’ve found it?


Leslie Ralph is a psychologist, writer, and artist who hopes to leave the world a little brighter than she found it. Her people are creative spirits, soul-searchers, and big-hearted dreamers that crave love and peace, inside and out. Download her free ritual for receiving for inviting in more love, peace, and healing so you can remember your true gifts and do real, good work for this world. You can follow Leslie on Facebook or Instagram.

Image courtesy of Ben White.