Another opportunity to bring the light...

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

When the dark approaches, we naturally feel more vulnerable.

The dark is big, and we can feel so small.

This is why light at this time of year seems so powerful, and why we yearn for it and call for it. We adorn our Christmas trees and porches with little lights, touch matches to the candles of the menorah, sing about light in our seasonal songs and place the candles in our windows. The Swedish holiday of St. Lucia’s Day centers on a maiden wearing a crown of candles, and the Yule log that burns in the fireplace or fire pit – and is replicated in the tasty chocolate pastry of rolled cake – a sweet reminder of the bonfires of the ancients. 

Indeed, the Winter Solstice, our oldest known holiday in the Northern Hemisphere, marks the longest night of the year and calls for the slow return of the light.
In the meanwhile, we feel vulnerable, and that prompts the rise of the natural question: Who will take care of me?

This is the cry of the baby, the child, the weak, the injured, the sick, the homeless, the old. It is a question as eternal as the light rituals of our ancient ancestors.

The dark is also the unknown – in the dark, we cannot see very far down the path, and we are obliged to step carefully into the future. As we turn the page of the past year into 2025, we are stepping into the unknown, not simply into the blank pages of the 2025 calendar but also into a world that seems especially troubled, with many of our supporting institutions offering disappointment and disruption rather than structure and care.   

It seems that we are increasingly facing the realities that many of these longtime institutions and structures that we have depended upon do not always have our best interests at heart. 

For instance, in recent times our attention has been directed to the limits of the media, the internet, the churches, the electoral system, the police, the law and the health insurance companies. Very recently, we are seeing U.S. health insurance companies as less reliable at best, nefarious at worst as these businesses – and they are businesses – face growing scrutiny about denying claims to its customers. 

In another for instance, a Senate committee concluded earlier this year that three major insurance companies – UnitedHealthcare, Humana and CVS, which owns Aetna – were intentionally denying claims for nursing care to patients to increase profits. UHC was also accused in a lawsuit of using a faulty Artificial Intelligence algorithm to deny elderly patients extended care, and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, another big insurance company, attempted to limit the amount of anesthesia a patient could receive during surgery.

Many of us are resting, feeling exhausted. Or striving to feel powerful at a time when we are feeling vulnerable. Or wrapped in a cloak of despair, not sure what step to take into the darkness.

For myself, I am going with the humble tradition of calling for the light.
Let us call for the light. Let us bring the light and let it shine fully on what does not serve us, what hurts us, what damages the fabric of our communities and our larger community as humans. Let us notice how the light shows up – in kindness, in hearty laughter, in welcome and in generosity. Let us be enlightened to reimagine new ways of conducting our lives, caring for each other and re-forming our larger communities.

The best that we can do is to take care of ourselves and each other. Let’s keep noticing how we can bring each other the light..

About Karen

Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP, is a nationally board-certified practitioner of psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy and the founder and director of the Lancaster School of Psychodrama and Experiential Psychotherapies in Lancaster, Pa., which offers online and in-person classes with CE credits. You may keep updated on her schedule and subscribe to Karen's e-letter here.