In singing high notes we are told, ‘To reach higher, you need to sense the depths’. We also need to be prepared to encounter all kinds of darkness, difficulty and challenge, to express what we lament or regret, as a source for our deep desires to reach upwards and outwards.
In conversations with others, I have explored the notion of lifting the lid on our next layer of development which inevitably involves recognising pain, trauma and challenge, to deepen the extent to which we can be imbued with courage, curiosity and love. This can involve a bit of heart-break, yet as Parker J Palmer puts it, ‘the broken-open heart is the source of power as well as compassion—the power to bring down whatever diminishes us and to raise up what serves us well’.
Instead of too many burdensome words, I offer this image of a rose that always blooms in my garden at this time of year. I don’t know the name of the rose, some other gardener planted it here, but I appreciate its generosity of petals, of fragrance and of symbolism as we celebrate the solstice, the festivals of light and warmth and love, and the coming to the earth of the being of love.
I’m sure this rose’s roots reach firmly into the darkness to be able to bear such beauty.
Tanya Coburn 
Beautifully written Clare. I have long thought this was true and have written a song that speaks of this integration of the darkness with the light. I think your rose is called Black Beauty. It’s name speaks of what you have written of … plunging into the dark, to bear the beauty.
Blessings of the season to you. x Suzette
Thanks, Suzette! Black Beauty, what a fitting name for what I was describing. Blessings to you too, x Clare