CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air." 

~ WT Ellis ~

Just a few more days now until Christmas- a time for thoughtfulness- and yet we so often become frantic and impatient the closer it gets. We can become rushing and grabby, in traffic as well as in stores, trying to get ours. It rather misses the point.
     Let's bring extra love and patience to the world at this time. The world needs it, and so do our families, and our communities, and the beating hearts within us.

I bring love and patience to the season.

CURLING WOODSMOKE

"The fire is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness." 
~ Henry David Thoreau ~

Having a hearth-fire is a cheery deliciousness. It makes life feel rich. It closes us in together, warms the house, and exudes a sense of well-being. And it smells good outside too! There's nothing like the combination of wood smoke and crisp air.
   

I celebrate the sensuous delight of a fire crackling in the fireplace.

LIGHT

"May the blessing of Light be on you, light without and light within." 

~ Irish Blessing ~

We are approaching the shortest day of the year, ending one cycle and beginning another. This is the time for being home, for being cozy, for sharing intimately with those we love and care about the most. Even amidst the Holiday parties and festivity, it's an inward kind of time. And we are held in that space until the year ends.
     And then, with the lengthening days, we start to expand again like the light. We are made new and open into 2018 with fresh vision and a bundle of hope.

I live in alignment with the light. 

COMPUTER FRUSTRATIONS

"The problem with trouble shooting is that trouble shoots back." 

~ Author Unknown ~

For all the ways they serve us, computers can be frustrating when they don't do what we want them to do, when they don't cooperate, when they lose our work, and when we can't figure them out for anything. It's a feeling unlike any other- a kind of helplessness and disbelief.
     So how should we handle it when the tension mounts in this way? The tendency is to try anything and everything and twist ourselves into knots trying to figure it out, but the healthier response may be to walk away for a bit, to get into nature, and come back fresh, with a new perspective. Being too close to anything makes it impossible to see.

When I find myself getting frustrated with technology, I take a technology break. 

MONEY

"Inflation hasn't ruined everything. A dime can still be used as a screwdriver." 

~ H Jackson Browne Jr ~

Money is a touchy subject. It feels BIG- bigger than it really is, and the state of our finances, the amount in our bank account, the dues that we owe- these things seem like they could almost topple us over when they're not as we want them to be. We argue with our partners. We fill with fear, and let it creep through us. We equate our personal value with our net worth. And all for what?

     Let's let money be money. Let's trust that we are enough, that we have enough, and that we need far less than we think we do. We have survived thus far, and that's more than something. We are flexible, creative, and durable to the core.

I have what I want, and more than I need. 

HOOKED

"Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other." 

~ C.P. Snow ~

We have become so dependent on our technology. God forbid we leave our phone at home- can you imagine being without it for a day? Or something goes wrong with our computer and it won't function as it should. We hardly know what to do. We can't work. We can't communicate. We are utterly at a loss.
     And yet, it wasn't so long ago when we didn't have cell phones or computers and we all got along just fine, and maybe life was even simpler. For all the advantages of technology, it does rob us of something tranquil, and a certain stillness and space that used to be there and is now ever-filled. So while gratitude for our gadgets is appropriate, giving ourselves permission to leave them for a while is equally so, and may, perhaps, make for a richer life where we see people in a way we haven't for a quite some time.

I indulge regularly in breaks from technology. 

THE SHUFFLE

"You've got to know when to hold them, and know when to fold them..." 

~ Kenny Rodgers ~

Life delivers up all kinds of experience. We are satisfied, challenged, tested, rewarded, frustrated, exonerated, and left hanging. To be able to experience whatever there is to experience without angst is an art of the highest form, something to work towards, and something to experiment with. If we can roll with the punches as they come, and not explode our egos when we have success, then we are rich and rewarded indeed.

I play the cards life deals me.