Transmitting love in the season of lights
Transmitting love in the season of lights
What motivates your drive to be healthy?
What important work do you have ahead of you?
Being well, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually will enable all your good works.
This is my big picture mission here.
I want families to THRIVE!
Birth can and should be one of life’s beautiful and transformative thresholds—but through widespread ill-health, it has become in many cases a fearful and dangerous passage.
Experts estimate that up to 70% of all adverse pregnancy outcomes in the US could be prevented by improving health at home.
Earlier this year, I shared some perspective about this on Nicole Hartman’s podcast Quantumly Nourished:
Some history about Brighter Days, Darker Nights
When I started writing this publication, I was interested in sharing all kinds of natural healing. I wrote about food, thermo-healing, and, of course, lots of this sunshine and darkness stuff.
Over time, I have come more and more to the conclusion that the widespread rejection of Nature is leading today’s general state of ill health.
This fits for me personally, as I shared in the introduction to my Circadian Pregnancy, Birth, and Infancy Workshop. It also fits with what I have seen while serving families through their birthing years.
When I took up the name Brighter Days, Darker Nights, I knew I wanted to call attention to one, simple thing accessible to all free people: the solar cycle.
An inspiration came from the ancient poem about the rune Dagaz:
Day, the glorious light of the Creator, is sent by the Lord; it is beloved of men, a source of hope and happiness to rich and poor, and of service to all.
The rune looks like this: ᛞ
To carve or write Dagaz, start in the upper left corner and trace diagonally toward the lower right corner. Then trace straight up to the upper right corner, diagonally down to the lower left, than straight back up to the starting point. This describes the cycle of daylight falling, rising, falling, and rising again as the days pass.
Circadian rhythmicity as a key to wellness
If you are new to the concept of circadian rhythmicity, it may seem too simplistic to think that being deliberate about the light environment and embracing the times of both light and darkness can make such a big difference in health.
I’ve even seen people striking out at all of this circadian stuff, calling it just another fear campaign.
Indeed, there can be a 50-fold difference in individual sensitivity to evening light.
This difference between individuals in observed melatonin suppression is in part driven by what kind of light environment each person is accustomed to.
So as you start to cut back on artificial light at night (ALAN), you may become more sensitive to the carcinogen ALAN in the future.
How light-sensitive are you?
To some, becoming more sensitive to the environment may seem like a bad thing—maybe like how it feels when the anesthetic wears off after a surgery or dental treatment.
I’ve even seen people striking out at all of this circadian stuff, calling it just another fear campaign.
I was recently on an Instagram live with Pacific Birth Institute’s Birth Working series, and we talked a lot about how circadian disruption is so cooked in with modern birth work (and many other industries).
→You can watch the 1 hour unedited presentation and Q&A at the link above, and learn more about the Birth Working series and awesome education opportunities offered by Jess and Jenn at their website: https://pacificbirthinstitute.com. ←
In this live episode of Birth Working with Pacific Birth Institute, we talked about some of the big changes this circadian science advances, such as changing the lighting in the medical environment to be more blue-rich in the day and more red-rich in the night.
Change can be scary, but we all know courage is the antidote to fear just as love is fear’s opposite.
Utilizing circadian biology to counteract fear was a big part of my motivation for teaching a class earlier this year about the synergy of melatonin and oxytocin (this turned out to be one of my top 3 most popular content pieces of 2023):
Just because we have all been going in a particular direction with lighting, technology, foreign electromagnetic frequencies, and such modern things… and just because we are starting to learn technology can be dangerous when misused… doesn’t mean talking about these things is done to promote a fearful state of mind!
Isn’t this new frontier of wellness exciting?
I am sharing this information not to make you scared, but to help you feel the inspiration that you are part of a big, exciting cultural change for the better!
Yes, as I shared in my recent video for my Practitioners, sometimes people perceive this circadian information as a fearful challenge.
But this circadian and quantum lens of wellness is really an invitation to a way of life the builds your capacity for love (and whatever work it is you believe to be most important in the world).
To me, soaking up the sunlight and relaxing in your dark cave at night allows you to become an embodiment of jolliness (and isn’t this such a wonderful word for this season?).
This quality of jolliness is how I wrapped up my essay in the beautiful 2024 Moon Seeds calendar and planner (learn more about it here, and use code NIKKO5 to get 5% off your order if you like the message and concept).
Invitation to more in 2024
I am so happy you are here, and as 2024 approaches I want to invite you even deeper into this world of circadian and quantum health. I have big plans for publishing, and to make this information ever more clear, well-cited, and actionable. You are also invited to be a part of this big shift—as you learn this information, you can also turn around and share it with those behind you in the journey.
My circadian lifestyle transformation began back in 2011, and it wasn’t until a near-death experience in 2021 that I realized not everyone had access to this wisdom. What to me had become “old hat” and “obvious”, was actually still unknown even by people (such as NICU staff), who by all means should care!
And the research just keeps advancing.
Here 10 ways you can get more involved with Brighter Days, Darker Nights and help grow this mission of circadian and quantum pregnancy, birth, and postpartum:
Share a favorite post from the archive
Gift a subscription to someone you know, or donate scholarships anonymously
Upgrade to a paid or Practitioner subscription (if you haven’t already)
Make a suggestion for the future content of this publication
Email a testimonial for marketing materials
If you already have a Substack publication, add a formal recommendation
Follow me on Instagram
Send relevant research when you find it
Thank you again for being here, and I look forward to wrapping up 2023 and heading into the new year together. The future holds so much promise!