Better in the dark…
Mid-December appears in a bejeweled cloak of darkness. Neighborhoods where gowns of glowing red, green, blue, and soft white light. Christmas trees look lordly upon the sidewalks, and downtown buildings and avenues blaze with rows lighted roofs, eaves, and trees. Even the crane operators working construction all over the booming downtown have adorned 100 feet of machine in zigzags of colored lights. Light festivals, displays, and concerts fill event calendars and call people to venture forth into this darkest time of year to be together and to bask in arrays of light and lighting.
Like the Aurora Borealis, light displays look best in the dark. Summer fireworks wait for nightfall to begin. In summer people claim spots on lawns and high rise views points then wait up late to catch the mesmerizing booming bursts of fireworks, but in the winter night, around Christmas time, captivating visions set in light come to life on your regular drive home from work or school. It’s one of the most extraordinary ordinary things about being a human being to witness individual creativity and a collective desire for beauty and illumination in the dark.
Historically the lighting of candles during the winter season affirmed a hope for the return of sun and warmth, and a hope for the future. Modernly electricity instead of fire brings light into the darkest season with seemingly similar intent. Walking down streets lit by Christmas lights feels warm and friendly. There’s a welcome or invitation present in the light displays, as if to say, “behold a marvel in tiny lit up blubs just for you my friend.” Personally, I love seeing the variety of takes on Christmas light displays. It’s inspiring to experience the novelty, cleverness, and artistry that’s around me.
Mood lighting…
How we bring light into the dark season is important for more than just decoration. Lighting can lift or diminish mood. It can take us in and out of sleep cycles. It can set focal points for our attention (or remove objects from attention). During the winter we rely on interior lighting to function for a substantial proportion of the day. The quality of the lighting we use may impact how we feel and what we do in those spaces. Softer, yellower lighting, for example, can create feelings of ease, relaxation, coziness, and sleepiness – great for chilling, not great for work. Brighter, bluer light can stimulate or energize creating feelings of eagerness, alertness, and excitement – great for work or play, but not great for winding down.
Getting familiar with the subtleties and effects of lighting can give you additional super powers over your environment. By applying your knowledge and deliberately setting up lighting you can have a significant passive impact on how you feel and how effectively you can transition between states as desired (e.g., being alert and awake when needed or being restful when needed). This is especially true and important during winter when natural lighting doesn’t give you the same cues as during brighter seasons.
I have had positive experiences with using lighting on timers. In some rooms, like my bathroom, I rarely use the overhead lights. Instead I have lighting set on timers so that I don’t need to switch on a light and so that turning on extra bright lights doesn’t contrast with lower light times of the day when I don’t want to over stimulate. In my bathroom bright, white light, string lights switch on automatically in the morning and light the room enough to see. They are not so bright that they disrupt darkness in other rooms, but they are sufficiently bright to appear like a pale morning light when it’s still pitch-black outside. In the evening a series of LED candles switch on in an automated sequence creating a warm ambient glow. Again, it’s enough light to use the room, but it’s not bright enough to be over stimulating in the evening. In my kitchen, to take another example, I have applied under cupboard LED lights which provide indirect lighting onto the counters. This approach is much easier on the eyes at all times of the day compared to overhead lighting and makes it easier to see what I’m preparing when I’m using the counter space.
There are so many interesting options to play with for lighting these days. It’s worth finding what works for you that makes you feel good or that makes you feel the way you would like to feel during different parts of your day. Lighting up the dark is a glorious Christmas pastime rooted in tradition, but attention to winter lighting well into January and February can have an impact on your quality of life and is well worth giving some thought.
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