Reflect — December 21, 2023

Tonight we find ourselves in the deepest dark of all: the winter solstice.

We chose this as our starting point because it's got a sort of poetic beauty. The darkness of this day seems to echo the darkness of our larger collective moment. A paralyzing, horrible sort of darkness, if we're honest — all tangled up in problems we didn't create by ourselves and can't solve alone.

But the winter solstice teaches us something profound: the darkest day of the year is also, as Sasha Sagan writes, “the turning point toward light, toward hope, toward spring again.”

Look, call us sappy, but that’s just beautiful.

We created the Blossom Box as a small step toward finding light in a time of darkness. As you read this, friends around the world are doing the same — friends we chose, just as we chose you, because we all share a spark for reimagining what’s possible. For making the tiny changes in our own lives that seed the big changes we so deeply want to see: a planet that can hold us, and our kids, and theirs, on and on for many winter solstices to come.

So every day, for twelve days, we're bringing you the grown-up, secular social change nerd's version of an advent calendar. A tiny gift for you each day in the form of a delicious quote and a deep question. And here online, a little more for those who want to dig even deeper.

Happy solstice, friends. We’re so glad you’re here.