Last year, I posted a blog about living with covid restrictions during the holiday season. I suggested external parameters may restrict our behavior, but not our thinking. Restrictions in the outer world are a call to expand inside. There are no restrictions in the mental realm- except self-imposed or trauma-induced ones – and there is transformation and healing. And freedom to choose our thoughts.
How has your perspective changed over the last year? Have you rewired thought patterns, expanded your mind, and found more good in the midst of ongoing challenge? Illness is still and always will be a part of the human narrative. Headlines keep it on the front page currently, but our thoughts are still and will always be, our own. What is on the front page of your mind?
Compare last year with this year and you might be surprised by what you find. Growth can happen so slowly, it is hard to see, unless we look back over a span of time, like a year. That’s when we notice change and growth from the inside out.
This is how it looked to me in December 2020, while reconciling what covid would mean over the holidays. I made a decision to be grateful and to make the best of the season, knowing that how I end one year sets the tone for the year to come.
When the covid-19 spike happened in our community, we came to understand what that means for our day to day lives and our holiday plans.
It dawned on us that this will be a different year; one when we prioritize our personal as well as public health. We have shifted our emphasis from a traditional experience to a scaled back one, keeping our eye on the goal, the reason for the season.
For Thanksgiving, the goal is gratitude. That can be practiced with or without a large gathering. It is an inside job, generated by our thoughts. There are always things to be grateful for when we set our minds to it.
This attitude of gratitude sets the mood for the holidays that follow. Goodness flows from it. Without it, the meaning of the holidays can get lost in all the busyness of the preparation and celebration of them.
This year, we have been given an opportunity to scale back on outer trappings and focus on the inner aspect of the holidays. I’ve decided to embrace it.
Instead of thinking about which parties to go to, what to wear and what to bring, I am thinking about how I can contribute more to what really matters in my life and the world. How can I be a force for good?
Basically, the winter holiday – the celebration of light, generosity of spirit, and all things merry and bright is about what is sacred and good. There can be no outer restrictions or limitations placed on celebrating that.
One of my heroes, Fred Rogers of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, said whenever we are in the presence of another person, we are on sacred ground. It does not matter how many or if they are in person or on a screen, we can elevate each human encounter with that thought.
By sacred, I mean deep respect or reverence. Imagine it. Begin by treating others with this high regard and see what happens.
This year, amidst its challenges, if I remember what is sacred and good within each of us and in our world, I may find the holidays have a special luminous or light-filled quality.
After all, we are celebrating the light that shines brightest in the dark of winter. With that focus, we create an atmosphere of hope to fill up a reservoir of it in our young children and to replenish it in ourselves.
When I look back on 2020, I will know that we were gifted by all that we had and all that we did not have.
When I look back on 2021, I find I am content with less, am taking better care of myself, my family and my home and I am worrying much less – in spite of it all. It turns out external constrictions can lead to internal expansion, if we allow it. I have experienced this to be true. Like most truths, there is irony in that when I am squeezed from the outside, I expand from the inside.
Trusting Life more; I am resisting less and increasing my capacity to learn, come what may. I don’t choose Life’s lessons but I do choose my response to them. The year has brought many challenges – opportunities to learn and grow – and I have.
At holiday time, I pause in awe and reverence for the return of the light, in nature and in the human soul. This annual celebration unites us across nations and philosophies. It opens us up, allowing generosity and love to flow in and out. We are not alone.
I anticipate the upcoming celebration with the joy and wonder of a child. And I look back on the passing year with gratitude for all the lessons learned and for Life itself, the greatest teacher of all.
Wishing you all the gifts of the season!
Note: If you are interested in learning more about Life as our teacher, you might enjoy reading Unpacking Guilt, A Mother’s Journey to Freedom. Or gifting it to someone you know who would benefit from a change in perspective during a challenging time. It is available on this website; click on books on the home page. Many thanks for the gift of your presence!