…and change abruptly. Black Friday turns to Monday Sales turns to Giving Tuesday and the lights go on, the Christmas music plays in stores, Santa decorations abound. This is a compelling holiday infused with images of warmth, family, snow scenes (especially horse drawn sleighs crossing little bridges to the cottage surrounded by snowy pines), and the smells of cinnamon and nutmeg.
There is also the relentless drumbeat to buy, give, and acquire, to put up lights, write Christmas cards, wrap presents for shipping. It is a time that tests our practice of stopping and letting be, allowing and recognizing, breathing and staying in this present moment.
Let us use our practice to help us stay aligned to our deepest values, not just our to-do list, to make our lists and check them twice to see if they do indeed align with what we care about, and then plan our lives and the expenditure of our precious resources (our time, our energies, our happiness and that of others, our finances) according to our inner messages.
This time we spend in practice helps us all center into this moment and allow all the strings and ties that attempt to bind us loosen and fall to the ground. These opportunities to practice are how we can fill and refill our selves and our energies during a season that seems determined to leave us at the edge of January of the New Year running on fumes and credit cards.