It’s the Holiday Season! :)
For some reason this year… wait I know the reason! Because I have maintained a regular meditation practice for several years now, I have come to understand the beauty of slowing down. I can finally sit still long enough to notice the morning sun, someone holding the door open for me, or the unconditional love of my dogs for me. It is here, in this moment, where real happiness lies. Where real life is unfolding right in front of us.
Mindfulness, or the practice of present moment awareness, has vastly changed my life. At this time of year the focus, culturally, tends to be on accumulating material goods to ‘celebrate’ Christmas. It is often seen as stressful and financially difficult, and just plain tiring. Maybe, just maybe, our focus could be on celebrating life. What could this look like for you? For me, I’d say, it could look like acknowledging who I’m grateful for in my life… to them, personally. For some it may be acknowledging it was a ‘crappy year.’ Accepting difficulties is a way to turn the power they have had over you back to yourself. To give you control to set new goals, and to realize that your difficulties were meant to teach you something you needed to learn. Others may celebrate by seeking out an old friend they have lost connection to.
Celebrating Life can look many different ways…. Perhaps it is really what the Holiday season is supposed to be about. Maybe celebrating life is a way to honor those teachers–the gifts of the year, both the high and low times, and the people–rather than by buying or accumulating more things. Oprah Winfrey writes in her book The Wisdom of Sundays that practicing gratitude can elevate your life to a state of grace. She goes on to write that grace is a natural extension of the gratitude you feel in your own life.
Grace and Gratitude… perhaps I will celebrate my life, this year, by this guideline and no others.
Much love and light to you during this beautiful holiday season!
“If the only prayer you say in your entire life is thank you, that will be enough.”– German Mystic Meister Eckhart
