Today is the the winter solstice - at 10:59am according to the internet. Solstice literally means the sun stands still - “sol" is the Latin word for Sun, of course, and “sistere" the Latin word for “to stand still.” The winter solstice is the shortest day because the Northern hemisphere tips as far away from the sun as it can get in its orbit around the sun.
What I always found fascinating is that the sun has been setting later by a minute for a full week already. Sunset seemingly pinned at its earliest time, 4:15pm, on Dec. 3 and “stood still” for 10 days. It wasn’t until Dec.13th that the sun set 1 minute later at 4:16pm. Now - today - on Dec. 20th, the sun will set at 4:18pm and set later each day by larger and larger increments. Note: These times may vary slightly in different latitudes but the trend will be the same.
The sun has been rising, on the other hand, later and later through out this same period eating away at our daylight at the beginning of the day and outweighing the increasing daylight the later sunsets provide - 6:54am on Dec. 2nd, 7:03am on Dec. 13th - a full 9 minutes less daylight in the morning over the same 11 day period.
Sunrise hasn’t yet reached its time of “standing still" and won’t until Dec. 27th when the sun rises at 7:11am. Then for the next two weeks, sun rise “stands still” pinned at 7:11am for 5 days, sliding to 7:12am for 5 days and back to 7:11am for 5 days. Finally on January 11th sunrise begins to move out of stand still mode and rises at 7:10am. By then sunset is at 4:36pm - 16 minutes later than it’s nadir - and the perception of later sunsets and longer days is well underway.
This still point of the natural world has been significant throughout human history and probably animal history as well. We are especially reminded of our connection to the natural world, the solar system, the body of the earth and our own bodies during these days. We are nature and nature is us. Practices that support our inhabiting our bodies fully can ground us, can connect us with the sources of renewal and healing within us and in this natural world.