Part of remembering & seeing the Sacred is to be discerning about:
- how we spend our time;
- who we spend our time with during the holidays;
- to pause & reflect on the meaning of the holiday;
- what kinds of activities & practices help you to remember the presence of the Divine?
- imagine and create a holiday filled with spaciousness & ease;
- slow down the pace & not overschedule;
-
allow ourselves to practice Being rather than Doing- Do Less & Be More;
- make time to be in stillness and quiet and with all the souls of our beloveds who have left the Earth and feel their energy and love; and reflect on all the love you shared and your gratitude for these sacred connections;
-
take good care of yourself & rest well! (give yourself & those you Love the gift
of Self-Care - see Gift Card purchases below);
When we create space and time for contemplation (like in yoga, breath practices & meditation), we open to the Sacred, see and feel the beauty and goodness of our heart and all hearts!
In addition, engaging in self-care practices like massage & craniosacral treatments relieves stress and pain and creates freedom. All of these practices help us to create space in our beings. This space inspires us to live with more awareness, be more loving, compassionate, kind, patient, generous, forgiving, truthful-all the Best parts of ourselves-a manifestation & expression of the Sacred. In other words, this awareness awakens us to our sacredness. The more we take time to practice creating space for our awareness of the Sacred, the more it will reveal itself. The unequivocal & absolute truth is that each moment of our lives is sacred. Each moment of our lives is an invitation to remember and align with our Divine Energy, Light & heart of Love.
We don't need the holidays to celebrate the Sacred but it is a magnificent time of year to bask in the fullness of Divine Light deep within us, in all of our relationships & in the world! May we remember that even in our challenges, suffering, heartaches & losses, both individually & collectively, the Sacred exists. In fact, the world invites us to see the presence of Divine Light, Love & Generosity of Spirit in how we respond to our hearts, in our relationships & in the world each day.
The more we grow in awareness and mindfulness, the more conscious we become of our thoughts, words and actions both to ourselves and to others. We take it one breath at a time, one moment at a time.
May we remember that the divine Light within us is always present. It never leaves us. It gets veiled or cloaked but within our darkness, the Light resides. We can think of our darkness as the part(s) of ourselves we don't like, that we may have guilt and shame about and that cause us suffering. Remember, even in our shadows and darkness, the Light is present to comfort us and it quietly guides us to return to our wholeness when we are ready. Turn into your breath. In each breath lives sacred energy. It is a sanctuary of peace, healing and a way home to Light.
This sacred Light can also help us to choose our most loving, respectful, patient, kind, compassionate, generous and ethical way to respond and be when our darkness arises and permeates our soul. May we sit with our darkness in spite of our fear of it. As Pema Chodron, Tibetan Buddhist nun reminds us: "[o]nly when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity." May we honor and accept our darkness as a part of ourselves. May we hold our shadows and heartache with love and tenderness and see it as an opportunity to practice self-love and compassion in order to work through our darkness to manifest more Light and healing in our lives, our relationships and the world.
