We have a dog named Lightning. Sometimes, Lightning and I would go for very brief morning walks- there is an easily-approachable upper limit to the distance a three-pound Yorkie-Pomeranian body can carry itself. On such walks, we would stop often so she could face the Sun. Ever so gently, she would lift her tender snout skyward and, eyes closed, use it to tickle the air around her little head.
As one does, I decided to start imitating my dog. I began stopping every once in a while to turn toward the Sun, for which I was named. I cose my eyes and lift my face as though I to smell the rays themselves. Despite all my infinite insignificance to the universe, this gives me the sensation of beaming back at the Sun. That the Sun and I are beaming at one another. That we are equals.
Every second, the Sun produces enough energy to power all of humanity’s extravagance for approximately five hundred thousand years. Lightning taught me that reciprocating such brilliance can be very centering.
Kulani Sol 