Christmas

My wish for you is that however you celebrate this Holiday season, that you can feel the love and spirit of it – even though our usual ways of preparing for and celebrating it is, and will be, greatly altered from what we are used to. (This was sent out Dec 20th, but I was only able to post here today, so my apologies if some of it seems outdated now;  the sentiments still remain :) Sign up to my newsletter here Link is also below). Myself, I’m focusing on feeling blessed because I do have loved ones nearby who I would be celebrating Christmas with, and will feel comforted that my son and his family who live far away are safe, doing ok, and have each other. I also have a few creative ideas to help me feel close to my family, and that will also help keep the spirit of the season alive in me. Sadly, not everyone does have loved ones to see during the Holiday season. Others do, but they live very far away and cannot ever get together, while some people are estranged from family members and never see them. Those of us who do have loved ones we usually celebrate with are truly blessed. Focusing on this, and getting creative in ways that help us  feel close to them, will help get us override any sadness or loneliness that may arise in us this Holiday season. This year we are all being called to dig deeper to feel the full spirit of the season. Our usual traditions will be altered, as well as our usual gatherings. Year after year, these bring a magical and mystical feeling to the season, and they reconnect us to loved ones in a special and spirited way no other time can. However, traditions and gatherings only create a framework for the magical feelings of the season to arise in us. The feelings actually belong to us. We all have the capacity to create wonderful feelings within us, and the warm feelings the Holidays bring with it are no exception. (My recent posts, I Have Loved, and Loving - Instead of Missing What Was, follow and expand on these themes. See HERE for I Have Loved, and for Loving - Instead of Missing What Was see HERE  Links also at end of message). To create the special and magical feelings our usual traditions and gatherings give us, we can: Bring to mind past celebrations/gatherings where we felt the love, connection, and spirit of the season, and focus on the feelings these created in us. Those feelings come from within us, and we can recreate them. So does dreaming of wonderful future gatherings. Both of these uplift us. Missing our loved ones, or focusing on what was or should be, depresses us. It is also helpful to let go of “the ideas of how things were – and should be,” Becoming more flexible in our ideas around how the Holidays should play out, helps us to [...]