See Better At Night
How Night Vision Lights Your Emotional Darkness.
“The next time you’re called to sit in the darkness of your emotions, consider it a practice run for night vision.”
There should be a word for those times when you’re in an unfamiliar dark room and trying to find a light switch. Your hands might trace along the texture of a wall, hoping to click that little bump that illuminates the space.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could see in the dark rather than needing an actual room light?
It turns out you can, and it’s called scotopia. In Greek, skotos means “darkness,” and -opia means sight.
There’s an emotional equivalent to this that seems highly relevant. What I’m talking about here is the often agonizing practice of processing difficult emotions.
When I say “difficult,” I really mean the ones that you’d much prefer to never sample again, thank you very much.
So, check this out: There’s a transition period of several hours called dark adaptation that’s required for your eyes to make sense of the pitch-black. What if you could do the same to make sense of stressful moments?
This may seem like a wild proposition, but what if the dark moments of your life are meant to improve your night vision?
Mindfulness teaches that afflictive emotional states are usually the most informative. When you practice calming the body and comforting the heart, insights about the root cause of your feelings arrive.
Self-compassion comforts the pain. And then, the healing begins and you start seeing the light of day.
The next time life brings you an inexplicable dark season where you can’t find your way, consider it a practice run for night vision.