by Scott Cramer, President of Go Solar Group
As you rise out of bed every day, the sun also rises, and when the earth turns on its axis to give sunlight to the other side of the globe, you also retire from the day’s work and go to bed.
Your very biorhythms jive and sync at the whim of the sun, and the clouds beneath it transmit to you, in subconscious signals, the scope and purpose of your days.
How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.
So, it’s only fitting that we learn broader metaphorical lessons from the sun that we can weave into our daily routines to live more empowered lives.
Yes, we may be a solar company, but we believe not just in solar powered homes, but also in living a better life. Buying solar arrays is just a part of what we believe to be that better life.
If we can learn to be as steady and giving as the sun, we will have lived lives not just worth remembering, but lives worth living, too.
So, without further ado, here are 10 powerful life lessons we can learn from the sun. Enjoy!
1. Accomplished Great Tasks, and Quickly.
Did you know it only takes eight and a half minutes for sunlight to reach our planet?
That’s a pretty quick timeframe to deliver something that allows over 7.4 billion people to live, breathe, and enjoy the miracle of Earth itself. Especially when the delivery distance is 92.5 million miles.
So, not only does the sun carry the weight of the world on its helium-esque shoulders, it puts humankind to shame for even using the commonly quipped phrase “I have the weight of the world on my shoulders,” or “I am carrying the weight of the world on my back.”
Next time you feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, study-up on the sun’s convection patterns, dynamo process, and magnetic fields which convert the hydrogen and helium its comprised of into energy that literally keeps our earth not just in orbit, but also capable of carbon-based life.
And, the next time someone asks something great of you, try as quickly as you can to do it in eight and a half minutes!
2. Rise Above It All.
The sun makes up 98 percent of the mass in our solar system, so it’s only fitting that we study the way it conducts itself, especially as it pertains to how the sun always seems to rise above it all in a manner more consistent than any other example in nature can provide us.
Burning hydrogen and helium in a blaze of glory, the sun is undaunted by anything that stands in its way, and is governed by a set of physical laws that ensures we benefit from it every day, even if we do not necessarily see it.
How much could you accomplish if you rose above every obstacle in your path to achieve your goals? The sun can’t be distracted. It follows its order and provides to those who need it without folder.
If you can be as consistent as the sun in fulfilling your obligations, you will likely become the most effective person you know.
On one quick note for the astronomy buffs out there, yes, we know the sun technically doesn’t “rise.” The Earth merely spins, but it appears to us as if the sun does rise.
And in the event our universe was designed, perhaps the way the sun appears to us serves as a teleological indicator of how we should govern ourselves in our daily routines.
More simply put, if the display of how the sun and earth interoperate in the heavens doesn’t give us a visual depiction of how we should live our lives, the way we experience the sun from Earth surely does.
Are you as dependable to others as the sun is to you?
Sometimes it’s hard to be dependable for other people when we feel like our heads are already under water.
However, T.S. Eliot said it best when he pointed out that we’ll never know how tall we are if our heads are never under water.
And learning how to be dependable for others is a great starting point for opening ourselves up to the discomfort needed to grow into dependable people.
The sun provides the photosynthesis that plants (and therefore vegetables and fruit, which we depend on for great health), need to grow into consumable energy. It gives us warmth, and it gives us efficient ways to power our homes with solar panels.
The sun is also so dependable that we can count on it to power our homes, and for lower long-term costs than utility companies can ever provide on their own.
If you can be as dependable for others as the sun is for you, you will be a person everyone wants to keep in their lives.
3. Do What’s Expected of You, and Without Thanks.
Sometimes something can be so dependable that we take it for granted. Much in the same manner, when we count on others to do things for us, it becomes easy to forget to thank them because their greatness demonstrates no deviation from the norm.
And once we become used to the norm, we oft forget to remember the significance of others’ actions.
However, doing great things shouldn’t be about recognition—it should be about the utility we provide for other people, and the sun serves as an exemplary case of this truism.
4. Rise Early and Surely.
Sometimes we have days where we just want to stay in bed. Our lives feel as overcast and dreary as ever, and we know there’s a job waiting for us to be completed, somewhere, somehow.
That’s when the temptation to stay in bed and blow off the entire day comes in to play.
Could you imagine what would happen if the sun decided, as if it had any volition of its own, to take a day off?
If the sun disappeared for a day, we would float out of its orbit, and be without its warmth and rays of light for eternity. One day without it means eons without it. The seas would freeze over, the All earth-dwelling lifeforms would be die, and the
5. If You’re Out of Sight, Make Sure People Know You’re Still There for Them.
Although the sun sometimes goes out of sight, we can still count on it for us to be there in the morning when we wake up.
If you’re too busy to tend to everything needed of you in a single day, and aren’t getting the face time you need with loved ones due to personal objectives and goals in your own life, then just make sure those who depend on you know you will eventually get back to them and that you will keep them in mind, no matter what.
6. Know When It’s Time to Bow Out.
Sometimes something other than ourselves needs to take center stage and bask in the limelight. The sun never pushes the moon out of the way right in the middle of an eclipse.
Not only would that be impolite on the part of the sun, it would deprive everyone of one of the most marvelous astronomical spectacles known to humankind.
A marvel of modern existence, getting solar eclipse glasses can help us see humility as an act of not just the nature of the heavens, but also as an opportunity to reflect upon how often we give the stage to others when they deserve it.
7. Adapt to Your Place in the Order of the Universe.
I can almost hear what you’re thinking at this point: So, if I should learn my place in the universe from the sun, that means I should act as if I’m the center of the universe, right?
False. Big time.
Because the sun isn’t the center of the universe. It is merely the centerpiece of our galaxy. In fact, there are numerous celestial bodies in the universe far bigger than the sun, such as Betelgeuse, Antares, and VY Canis Majoris.
The sun is the biggest thing in our galaxy, but it is 9.3 billion times smaller than VY Canis Majoris.
Yes, that’s correct. You can fit 9.3 billion of our suns inside of VY Canis Majoris, the largest known hyper red giant and star in the known universe.
This life lesson is geared especially toward the millennial generation reading this post. Before you hate on this life lesson too much, know that a millennial is writing this post (I was born in 1990).
Yes, you’re a special snowflake, but knowing your place in the order of the universe and, more specifically, the world, can help you understand that you are part of a system much greater than yourself.
The sooner you can find a way to start contributing to this larger-than-self system, the better off you’ll be in the long run.
Although you may be everything to someone, you’re not everything to everyone.
Just as you may be everything to your wife or your husband, your girlfriend or your boyfriend, your brother or your sister, you are not everything to everyone else in the universe. But you can and should be something to someone.
8. Don’t Put Shade on the Accomplishments of Others.
Does the sun discriminate against others when selecting to whom it should give its light?
No. It may provide light to us at a different time each day depending on where we’re located, but it shares and distributes its light in a remarkably even and fair fashion.
The sun gives us the light we need to see the miracles of others’ work, not just to see the miracles we may work ourselves.
When someone else does something significant, it’s worth giving them the light he or she deserves. No matter what the circumstances surrounding his or her track record. Light heals, and we should allow others to receive it whenever possible.
Although many cultures around the world champion individual accomplishment and dominance above all else, ask yourself where you’d be today if nobody gave you an opportunity to shine on the stage of your life.
Would you be singing the same tune or dancing the same dance?
9. Know When to Put the Heat on Others, and How to Receive It Gracefully.
There will be seemingly innumerable times in our lives where we’ll have to play the scalding hot sun, and the person we’re upset with will have to play yard worker without sunscreen. These roles will also be reversed throughout the course of a lifetime, no matter who you are.
There are specific ways each of these solar scenarios should be handled.
Sunlight is a gift, but sometimes it also gets a little too hot for comfort. When we’re on the receiving end of the heat, we should remember why we’re thankful for it to get through the myriad discomforts we feel while laboring beneath it. After all, without the sunlight, we wouldn’t be able to grow and progress as individuals.
Laboring in the sun for a few hours can build integrity. The more discomfort we can endure, the stronger we’ll become and the more we’ll grow.
When it comes to putting the heat on others, we need to remember to assert ourselves without coming off as too pushy.
Whether at work, home, or school, very few of us enjoys physical confrontation. However, sometimes it’s necessary to be assertive and galvanize others into action when we need to see results.
Just as the sun has a way of laying the heat on us while we’re laboring, we need to develop our own way of laying the heat on others in a way that permits their growth, understanding, and development.
After all, if we never ask for something that we want from somebody, the odds of getting what we want are drastically reduced.
Bringing It All Together.
Looking to the heavens at what powers our planet can give us a better perspective on how we can bring heaven to Earth and become more like the very forces that help us operate in the world.
Green business has always been a part of Scott’s life. At the age of 11, Scott Cramer started Cramerco – a curbside recycling business. After graduating from university, Scott started Simple Solutions, an energy consulting firm designed to save business owners money and help the environment. Scott has immersed himself in solar since 2009 when he first saw the effect it could have on the lives of others. For the past six years, Scott has been President of the Go Solar Group.
