Finding The Light Inside of You
What does it mean to keep your own light alive? Some thoughts on the shortest day of the year.
Today marks something special – the winter solstice and the final night of Hanukkah, known as the Festival of Lights.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to keep our own light alive, especially during challenging times. There’s something profound about finding those reserves inside of us that last longer and shine brighter than we ever thought possible.
👇 In today’s email:
This week’s inspiration: A Light Inside of You
Latest blog post: Cosmetic Acupuncture Benefits (Without the Fluff)
What I’m reading: Between the Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History
Finding The Light Inside of You
Today is a rare alignment: the winter solstice, the final night of Hanukkah, and a barely-there moon.
This is a perfect time for contemplation and, hopefully, a lot of sleep.
The Struggle of Keeping Our Light Burning Bright
Maybe we tell ourselves that a thoughtful, aware person should keep up with everything—every headline, every crisis, every breaking update. But I’m not convinced our nervous systems were built for that kind of nonstop input. The sheer volume of bad news doesn’t just fry the brain… it seeps straight into the heart.
I suspect we were designed for a much smaller circle—something like 120 people, with little subgroups inside of that. You knew who’d had a baby. Who was sick. Who had died. And yes—who had hunted a glorious bison for a feast over an open flame. You knew what mattered because you could actually touch your world.
Now? The world touches us all day long. And the steady deluge of information can feel like trying to drink from a firehose.
Choosing Light
As we move deeper into winter, on this solstice Sunday, with the holidays ramping up – protect your bandwidth.
Keep your own light on by doing the unglamorous basics that actually work: sleep, decent food, movement, time outside, fewer doom-scroll sessions, and more time with people who help you feel steady.
Because when you’re vital and well, you’re simply more useful—to yourself and everyone around you. Your mood is less brittle. Your patience lasts longer. Your “I’ve got this” comes back online. That kind of steadiness is contagious in the best way.
Cosmetic Acupuncture Benefits (Without the Fluff)
Cosmetic acupuncture is having a moment—but most of what you see online is either wildly overhyped or weirdly vague.
So I wrote the post I wish every woman could read before she books anything: what cosmetic acupuncture is, how it works, what it helps (tone, texture, puffiness, tension, that “tired face” look), and what to expect from a real treatment plan. Spoiler: it’s not one-and-done—and that’s actually the point. It’s cumulative, natural, and designed to restore vitality from the inside out.
→ Read the full breakdown
Between the Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History
As we race full steam ahead into modernity (or post-modernity) there’s something in me that yearns to dive into the past. And I don’t mean the recent past. I mean ancient history. More specifically: Mesopotamia.
This week, I’ve been reading Between the Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History by Moudhy Al-Rashid. It’s a more user-friendly version of a book I read last year called 5000 Years of Iraqi History, which honestly should have been titled 5000 Years of Terrible News for Women. The writing in the latter is superior, but the former is a much easier read.
There’s something so soothing, and perhaps quaint, about small clay communications made with reeds used on clay tablets. The earliest form of writing, you might be interested to know, had to do with commerce—specifically, who owed whom, often in relation to the production of beer. Basically, it was about unpaid bar tabs.
The earliest known epic is The Epic of Gilgamesh, written around 2000 BCE. It tells the story of the demigod King Gilgamesh of Uruk, his deep friendship with the wild man Enkidu, and his ultimately failed quest for eternal life.
It helps me to remember that some of our earliest stories are basically about the same things we’re still trying to figure out: how to love people, how to lose them, and how to live with our own limitations.
This is our final newsletter of 2025. Thanks for being here – truly. If these notes have meant something to you, I’d love it if you forwarded this to a friend who could use a little steadiness right now. Wishing you a peaceful end-of-year and a fresh start.
See you in January. ❤️
Dr. Cat
Looking to book a session in my Newport Studio? If you are new to my practice, book a Free Consult or if you know what you want, reserve your spot for a One-on-One experience.