While we usually associate darkness with negative emotions and bleak outcomes. There is in fact quite a few good things about the dark.

We primarily rely on our eyes to get through life and sight is the main sense for almost everyone bipedal and speaking on this planet. Giving the rest of the senses some time to shine is a great way to both let your eyes rest for a while and for the other senses to come up from the bleachers and start playing ball.

Our feet and skin are great sensory areas and feel both the air, temperature and pressure in a very helpful way. Getting up at night to do a required task from changing a diaper to checking a gauge on a machine does not require too much light if at all and in many cases things can return to sleep better if we are not exposing ourselves to light in the dead of night.

Our noses are a great way enjoy food better, smell nature and close ones and to warn us of dangers such as fires, food that has gone bad or people who approach downwind although those people are a lesser threat most times.

Smelling in the dark or when closing our eyes opens a pathway for sensory awareness that is overwhelmed during sight focus. This can help in subtle ways in many ways including during a hunt of you are hungry or a hunt if you are pray/predator.

Hearing in the dark is both a simple method of echo location when the mind learns to read the returning sounds we make or others make. It is a way to recognize the mass direction and intention of living animals and humans. It is a way to know how far away we are from a wall if we pay attention to both the airflow and the sound engineering coming to your ears from all directions.

The dark heals us from reliance on sight alone and gives way to all our other senses, both named and unnamed to rise to the conscious surface and with honing they become a part of the living tapestry of life.

Another affect of darkness exposure is our eyes and ocular senses get a much needed respite from the constant bombardment of light and color in the 21st century. Experiment and see how you wake up and how your eyes feel and act after a night in complete darkness without tiny flickering digital lights and notices from electronic devices.

On the tactical side. Remember the age old image of the pirate with the eye patch? They wore them so one eye would be ready for the darkness in the lower decks of the boarded ship. If they had to hold and adjust to the lower light, they would lose the momentum and most likely a limb or a life.

Three drills:

1. set an alarm to wake up at about the middle of night. Stand up and walk around your area with your eyes closed. Be slow and use all your senses to avoid going bump in the night. Extra bonus if you pay attention to your breath and the sounds your own body makes.
2. Stand in the middle of a room where it is safe to experiment. Close your eyes and turn around swiftly for a few breaths. Hold and stand again and use all your senses and skin input to understand in which direction you are standing and what is in front of you, sides and back. It is also a memory drill.
3. Stand in a clearing and have a partner or two come at you as you close your eyes and move to avoid contact as they walk at you. If contact is made, continue with your eyes still closed and let the contact made guide you as to the direction and intention of the contact. Start slow and always mind your breath.

Keep safe and look into the darkness. I am there waiting. In a good way 🙂