Ho! Ho! Ho! The holidays are upon us! How are you feeling? Excited? Grateful? Hesitant? Bah Humbug? Maybe all the above? The confluence of the holiday season, with the end of the year, with winter solstice, is a complex and powerful mix of energies and expectations. This year we have an enduring pandemic to add to the mix! It’s no wonder we sometimes feel overwhelmed or schizophrenic.
Fortunately, we have ancient practices of mindfulness and ritual to assist us in honoring the seasons and transitions and taking care of our soul.
I have found, for me, this is the most important time of year to consciously practice self-care. To be disciplined about making time each day to be with myself, go inward, and connect to source; leaving aside the to-do lists and to-get lists for a little while and nurturing my inner being.
I encourage you to do something similar. Even if it’s only 5 minutes a day, time for you will make a big difference, and you’ll be able to travel through the transitions of now with more grace and equanimity.
I am here, alongside.
It is far more creative to work with the idea of mindfulness rather than with the idea of will. Too often people try to change their lives by using will as a kind of hammer to beat their life into proper shape. This way of approaching the sacredness of one’s own presence is externalist and violent. It brings you falsely outside yourself and you may perish in a famine of your own making.
If you work with a different rhythm, you will come easily and naturally home to yourself. Your soul alone has the map of your future and knows your destiny. Therefore, you can trust this oblique side of yourself, for it will take you where you need to go, but more importantly, it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.
~John O’Donohoe