Your Spark of Light
An exploration of hiding and shining your spark of light
Welcome! I’m Rachael Gaibel, a career, life + wellbeing coach, consultant and content strategist/writer. Find Possibility is a monthly newsletter focused on: uncovering possibilities to create change that matters to you, personal growth, wellbeing, creative expression, and more. If it resonates, please share with others.
This post is an exploration of an idea called “your spark of light.”
“‘But Grandpa,’ I asked, ‘If the sparks of light are hidden and we cannot see them, how can we find them?’” [Asked Rachel, his granddaughter]
[Her grandpa responded:]
‘We can’t see them with our eyes.
We can only see them with our hearts.
Only your heart can see the spark of light
That is hidden in everyone and everything.
When we are kind to people
Or listen to them
Or believe in them
Or love them
Or help them realize their deepest dreams,
We help their spark grow bigger and brighter,
Until their light shines out and fills up the world again,
One spark at a time.’”
--Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, internationally recognized medical educator, from The Birthday of the World
This excerpt from a beautiful children’s book The Birthday of the World, is about a story the grandfather passed onto the author, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, when she was four.
In the beginning of the story, Dr. Remen’s grandfather explains to her what happened soon after the world formed. The light of the world broke into millions of sparks of light falling everywhere, into everyone and everything. They are still there today, hidden in everyone and everything. The story is based off an ancient teaching from the Jewish mystics, called kabbalah.
Resisting or Hiding our Sparks of Light
When I coach others, I feel incredibly honored to see their sparks of light.
The light that emanates from someone’s core, from their heart. I can see it from truly listening to others. From believing in them. From times they express their deepest dreams.
I have noticed fear tends to dance with sparks of light.
I have witnessed many clients share their dreams during coaching sessions. And, I’ve witnessed blocks, including: fear, objections, resistance, and more alongside them.
So many of us resist or hide our light. Dim down our flames.
During the “Hiding and Leaping” module of the Playing Big Facilitator’s training, Tara Mohr shared the following wisdom: “Our light is so often hidden. We often hide our own gifts or hide from our gifts. We hide from our callings.”
Hidden light. Hidden gifts. Hidden dreams and callings.
It reminds me of Mary Williamson’s quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”
What frightens us most is our light.
Examples of reasons our spark of light is hidden:
Fear, we are really scared
Resistance
It brings up our inner-critic and negative self-talk
We might not realize our light is hidden
It is vulnerable and can feel uncomfortable
We don’t believe we are ready to shine our light yet
We aren’t in an environment that encourages us to shine our light
It is completely normal and part of the human experience for aspects of our light to be hidden. So many of us have past or recent wounds about shining our light. Or have seen others get criticized when they shine their light.
If you notice ways you’ve been hiding, make sure to be kind to yourself. Awareness is the first step to create change. You can make a different choice and start shining your light more in small ways.
If we overfocus on our fears, we can miss out on the beauty that comes from shining our light.
Shining our Sparks of Light
In the Playing Big framework, of which I have completed the facilitator’s training, the antidote to hiding is what Mohr calls leaping. Leaping means to create experiments that are simple to complete within the next two weeks to start taking action to live your dreams now.
In essence, it is about shining your light now, in small, meaningful ways. It is encouraging: we don’t need to be any different to start shining our light. Instead, we can show up as more of who we truly are. Right now.
Returning to Williamson’s quote, a few lines later she asserts: “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Examples of what’s possible as we shine our sparks of light:
This is how we become more of fully ourselves
This is where our self-expression lies
This is where we connect with others to all radiate
This is where we access greater meaning and fulfillment
This is where we can share our gifts and make our unique contributions
This is how we truly bring more light into the world—our light
Hiding and shining my sparks of light
During the years I dealt with often intense career burnout, I did not have the best conditions to shine. Upon reflection, it was a time I felt cut off or disconnected from aspects of my light: aliveness, gifts, dreams, creative self-expression, and callings. It wasn’t necessarily conscious or intentional. And, I bring kindness to that past version of myself.
I shared in a previous post that burnout hampers growth. Burnout can dim our light, what makes us feel vital and alive.
Taking an intentional career pause after becoming a mother helped me renew more deeply from burnout. It is when I slowly began to come back to my own light. Which has been the most unexpected and wonderous return to myself.
And now, while I don’t have shining my light figured out, I do have a different relationship to the idea.
I am choosing to show up to the idea of shining my light, even if it feels uncomfortable. I am choosing to be on a journey to shine my light in ways that feels authentic and aligned.
It means: I notice hiding tactics quicker. I do inner work around the blocks of resistance, fear, inner-critic and limiting beliefs that tend to come up. More often, I listen to my dreams and inner wisdom’s guidance. I try to take small steps in the direction of my dreams and what matters to me.
“One spark at a time, we can change the world back to the way it was at the beginning—whole and filled with light.” –Dr. Remen, the last lines in The Birthday of the World.
In this current time of uncertainty and turbulence, particularly in the US, we can still shine our light. We can support others in shining their light. Light illuminates the darkness.
Two amazing takeaways from The Birthday of the World book:
Others can help our spark of light grow bigger and brighter. We can lift each other up so we all radiate.
Filling the world with light begins one spark at a time. Each spark growing brighter makes a difference to bringing more light into the world.
I hope you know your spark of light matters. Your dreams, gifts, callings, aliveness, possibilities matter. They especially matter right now.
Consider reflecting on:
In what ways your light has been hidden
Experiences where you’ve witnessed others sparks of light
Examples when you recognize your own spark of light
A small way you could shine your light in the next week
Working with a coach can help you shine your light. A coach can help you shift out of hiding and into connecting with your light. To connecting with your dreams and what could be possible for your life.
If you want support to shift out of hiding and into shining your light, contact me for a free exploratory coaching call to learn more about how coaching could help.
What does this idea bring up for you? I would love to hear what resonates with you about the concept of your spark of light.