Christmas can be a shouldy time (say it out loud, you’ll get the joke). I should send out Christmas cards, I should get some baking done, I should put up some decorations, I should get my boss a gift even though I can’t stand him. So many activities that were once done out of a desire to show love and appreciation, or to celebrate and make sacred, or simply to be connected to one another have turned into to-do lists. Long, exhausting, shouldy to-do lists.
Every year I look forward to pulling out my collection of Christmas movie classics and watching them throughout the month. The other evening I pulled out a favorite and settled in to watch it. Once the credits rolled I realized I had completely missed the whole thing. I spent the whole time on my phone or getting other things organized. Sure, I had managed to cross another film off my list but I never actually watched it.
I realized that I became guilty of doing a thing for the sake of getting it done verses really dropping into the moment and being present. We all do it. We go through life distracted and disconnected, just trying to get to the next thing, that we forget what we are on this planet to do – to live….each moment.
I truly love Christmas. I love the smell of a real tree and the fact that, because I live in a studio suite, I get to have a Christmas tree at the foot of my bed! I love hanging each decoration, remembering the story that goes with each one. I love seeing the pleasure on friends faces when they bite into on of my shortbread cookies (I make amazing shortbread) and I love those magical snow falls that are so gentle and so silent with giant flakes that blanket the ground in sparkling white that turns blue in the glow of the moonlight.
By truly being present in each of these moments, these things “to do” become moments that I am romanced by the universe and get to fall in love again and again with the life I am given.
Every moment is an opportunity to discover something new, to breathe and remind ourselves of the miracle that is life, to celebrate the fact that we are alive. We are not on this earth to get stuff done. Take away all of the doing and we are left with connection – connection to ourselves, to one another and to the universe around us. We have the opportunity to find what is new in every moment because every moment is new no matter how much it looks like the thousand moments before it.
Let this Christmas be a chance to fall in love – with those around you, with yourself, with life. Be present to the present and you will find the present that presence can present. (Don’t you love English!)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!
Every year I look forward to pulling out my collection of Christmas movie classics and watching them throughout the month. The other evening I pulled out a favorite and settled in to watch it. Once the credits rolled I realized I had completely missed the whole thing. I spent the whole time on my phone or getting other things organized. Sure, I had managed to cross another film off my list but I never actually watched it.
I realized that I became guilty of doing a thing for the sake of getting it done verses really dropping into the moment and being present. We all do it. We go through life distracted and disconnected, just trying to get to the next thing, that we forget what we are on this planet to do – to live….each moment.
I truly love Christmas. I love the smell of a real tree and the fact that, because I live in a studio suite, I get to have a Christmas tree at the foot of my bed! I love hanging each decoration, remembering the story that goes with each one. I love seeing the pleasure on friends faces when they bite into on of my shortbread cookies (I make amazing shortbread) and I love those magical snow falls that are so gentle and so silent with giant flakes that blanket the ground in sparkling white that turns blue in the glow of the moonlight.
By truly being present in each of these moments, these things “to do” become moments that I am romanced by the universe and get to fall in love again and again with the life I am given.
Every moment is an opportunity to discover something new, to breathe and remind ourselves of the miracle that is life, to celebrate the fact that we are alive. We are not on this earth to get stuff done. Take away all of the doing and we are left with connection – connection to ourselves, to one another and to the universe around us. We have the opportunity to find what is new in every moment because every moment is new no matter how much it looks like the thousand moments before it.
Let this Christmas be a chance to fall in love – with those around you, with yourself, with life. Be present to the present and you will find the present that presence can present. (Don’t you love English!)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!
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