D E C E M B E R

It is that time of the year again.

Last month, another year coming to close.

Work commitment slowing down fast.

Happy Holidays for many of us.

The season to be merry and jolly.

Get the fairy lights out.

Buy a real Christmas tree.

Spend more money on the latest colour baubles.

Start cranking up the entertainment our mind needs.

Finding lavish treats for all and sundry including the pets.

Get into gift giving mode even if it is beyond our budget.

Let’s just shop till we drop and please everyone we know.

Start plotting and planning for the sales in the stores.

Go nuts at the supermarket as if there is a food famine.

Eat anything we fancy and think about the consequences later.

Buy the jumbo tins of sweets, chocolates and toffee to stock up.

Consume even more alcohol as everyone else is doing it.

Add alcohol to our cooking recipes as the cooking shows tell us.

Go on a diet that is going to give us the perfect body in 2 weeks.

Let’s not worry about the things we have done and not done.

Forget the year we had and go full throttle this month.

Make it a year to never forget by doing crazy things.

Buy the TV guides and plan way in advance what to watch.

Get through the Christmas movie channels to keep us dreaming.

Indulge in our deepest fantasies and take action at the crimbo party.

Party Party and try out more whacky stuff to keep us up all night.

Do the daring things we can get away with as it’s ok this time of year.

See if we can top the previous year with our whacky behaviour.

Do something big that will get us noticed and recognised by others.

Make out we only live once so we have permission to be insane.

Feel regret about another year wasted, which adds to our depression.

Reflect on the awfull year and up the daily tipple of alcohol.

Be nice to others because this is the season.

Go over the top with the cleaning as the rellies are coming over soon.

Pretend we are super human and stay up all night, every night.

Stay up all night writing cards to all those we never bother speaking to all year round.

Write cards with words that are just what we put every single year.

Buy gift wrapping likes it’s going out of season as it all looks good.

Rush around as this is the last month of this year and it’s about to end.

Keep lying to the kids about being “good” if they want Santa to deliver their wish list.

Hang up the Christmas stockings and carry on with the illusion.

Make out we really care by giving a can or two in the supermarket charity box.

Avoid the crowds and get hooked on the Internet and over shop.

Stay up every night on social media, so we look like we are normal.

Fight the chronic cold and cough we have that is spoiling our festive mood, with even more medicine but no rest.

Forget about the stonking cold we have and distract ourselves with booking next year’s holiday.

Escape on holiday to avoid the family once again this season.

Don’t worry about the weather or what effect it might have on our body.

Act fast by trying to complete our annual “to do” list.

What is it about us that looks at a month and acts differently?

What are we missing in our lives that we need so much stimulation?

What is our understanding of the last month in our calendar year?

What if this annual cycle around the sun is giving us a message we have not yet considered, as we are way too busy with the above list?

Dear World

Are we getting any closer to living our natural state and are we concerned that things are not great right now on our planet?

Would it be wise to at least stop and take stock of our year thus far?

Would it be of great benefit if we got honest and asked some questions?

Would it be of value if we contemplated on our year so far and the mistakes that we have made and the lessons we have learnt?

Would it be supportive to reflect on our year and the steps we have taken to make some real changes that are not harming us in anyway?

Is it high time we started to discard anything that does not work for us?

Is it time to bring closure and end what is not true for our well-being?

Could it be possible that making sensible choices that support us in daily life is the answer?

In other words, once we build a strong foundation, we become full up and the outside stuff no longer is something we seek to keep us going?

Could it be that Simple?

 

 

 

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Comments 26

  1. I have in the past done many of the things you describe here around Christmas time to the extent that I have got ill, and actually been ill over the whole of Christmas and New Year – one year I had flu for the whole ‘festive period’ which I spent in bed. I have in the past also found that by January, after a busy December, I am so exhausted my body isn’t equipped to stay steady through the cold Winter months.

    Nowadays what I love is having a steady rhythm all year round – so that health and wellbeing, care and regard, staying steady, remain no matter what month or what time of year it is.

    The things that do change from month to month or season to season though are:
    *wrapping up warmer in winter months
    *eating food that nourishes the body at different times of the year (e.g. my body doesn’t favour salads on cold winter days)
    *resting more if my body needs it in the darker winter months – that doesn’t mean not working, more it means things like going to bed earlier
    *warming my clothes on a radiator ready for me to get dressed in the winter
    *using a different moisturiser for my face in the summer and in the winter based on either the cold air and protecting the skin, or based on the UV rays from the sun.

  2. Has anyone noticed ALL the magazines and newspaper supplements full of festive ways to celebrate with food and alcohol as the main focus.

    It was the first weekend and our weekend newspaper magazine was full of colourfull giant sized photos of different ways to cook up for Christmas. Things were way off the scale than ever before to grab us and get indulging earlier than ever before.

    For those who are wanting this stuff but overworked and exhausted, no doubt there will be a solution and for others like myself in the past, I would find a way to make these amazing dishes and delights full of fat and sugar all for one day or maybe two.

    I found that making them and scoffing it whilst cooking, put me off most of it and my stomach would always ache as it simply was not used to such indulging ingredients.

    December seems to be now a run up to the big day and everything is well under way right from the start, whereas in the past there was usually a gap and things were not in full swing till mid December.
    Christmas music is in every restaurant, cafe, diner and shop or supermarket.

    How does this affect us if we are honest and I wonder if there is some truth in a recent study I read – see link

    Does it affect our brain and that means our mental health?

    http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/christmas-music-listening-too-much-health-bad-effects-pyschology-a8040336.html

    1. What also strikes me is a constant momentum of ‘celebration’ days/dates/festivals – so Christmas as Bina says starts from November – then the January sales/push to booking a summer holiday, before we know it Valentines day kicks in, then Mothers Day, then Easter, then Fathers day, then summer holidays, then Halloween, then Bonfire night which takes us neatly into the Christmas run up… an endless set of distractions that can cost a lot of money, and take up a lot of time.

      Not to say bah humbug don’t celebrate, more to be clear that we can enjoy every day, we can be playful every day no matter what, there is always something to appreciate, and joy is always around us if we so choose to connect to it.

  3. Its interesting as to the words used at this time of year – ‘merry’ ‘jolly’ ‘festive’ and so on – but what do these actually mean? are they words that once had a truth but we are living so far from that truth – or are they words we have invented to justify the way we live during these times of year?

  4. What a blog!

    I have to admit to laughing out loud in recognition at some of this. Guilty as charged, over the years.

    What really hits home is this:

    “Is it time to bring closure and end what is not true for our well-being?”

    What an opportunity December offers if we use it to focus on the lessons of the year and on letting go of all that is not serving us.

  5. Just reading some old notes I made about Christmas and how I was looking forward to December as it was like a licence to indulge and overdo things, because that’s what everyone else was doing. No responsibility when it comes to maxing up the credit cards or worrying about the consequences.

    I know there was always tension inside me as I dreaded the New Year coming with everyone depressed, no money and cold weather to add to the misery.

    The month of December was also a frenzy, when it came to my uncontrolled excitement and wild behaviour leading up to this one day. I noticed shops were doing January sales in December and that I was getting bargains. Getting hooked into that stuff was a game that got me totally sucked in for years and looking back and reflecting now, I realise there was no purpose in my life. I was empty and the void needed filling up and my answer was shopping and indulging in alcohol and fancy food.

    Now everyday is the same and no calendar month or special day is any different. Having a focus and direction in life that feels true and has a purpose does make us content. I am living proof of that fact after choosing this way of living for over a decade.

    The bonus is you never feel flat or excited, but strong and steady and there is Joy every single day, even in the small stuff and that blows happy days out as they are not sustainable, if we are being honest.

    1. Your comment Bina reminds me of something I used to feel a lot – ‘flat’ – with the lead up to events I would get into a frenzy and then as soon as the event was over I would feel flat, low, desolate even, and want to stimulate myself again, so as not to get that same feeling of emptiness.

      Nowadays that rarely happens as I don’t have the roller coaster of up and down with events – and remain steady throughout the year as best I can.

  6. Behaviours around December have really shown up at work this week.

    There is a sense of both disappointment and fatalism. Disappointment at the end of year arriving and 2017 goals not having been achieved. And a kind of giving-up-fatalism about the proximity to the Christmas break and year end, with projects and meetings and ideas being kicked into 2018 to activate later.

    Reflecting on it, I have bought into both aspects and have seen this cycle in December year after year.

  7. In returning to this blog and the comments, I can feel how in the last week I got sucked into the ‘year end’ – ‘you’ve worked hard enough all year so far’, let’s take a break (from responsibility), and kick off my shoes.
    The feeling of year end, Christmas Celebrations, New Year’s Celebrations, Holidays, Food, Presents and lots of so called luxuries, outings, etc is strong – as a time to kick back, let go of responsibility ‘after all its only for a few weeks’, its seductive, almost intoxicating.

    It then begs the question of whose rhythm am I in? Am I in a rhythm of the masses, or am I in my own rhythm and what is needed by my body?

  8. Behaviours around December have really shown up at work this week.

    There is a sense of both disappointment and fatalism. Disappointment at the end of year arriving and 2017 goals not having been achieved. And a kind of giving-up-fatalism about the proximity to the Christmas break and year end, with projects and meetings and ideas being kicked into 2018 to activate later.

    Reflecting on it, I have bought into both aspects and have seen this cycle in December year after year.

    The question that comes, is whether this cycle of behaviours and dissatisfaction around December could be linked to the sense of things not being complete.

    We know how great it feels to complete something with purpose. We know what we could have activated or what we activated but didn’t see through, and we feel the tension of that.

    This is certainly true for me, and it brings a great learning and focus to move in from here.

  9. I used to feel loved by the amount of cards I received yet the majority of them, as you say, had the same words in year in year out and were usually from people I saw every week and like wise mine were to them.
    I started building love for myself over the last few years, a foundation, and now I don’t receive any cards as I don’t do Christmas any more, I actually asked not to receive them.. but it makes no difference to me as the love I wanted from the outside I now have on the inside. And the pull of those late night parties and out of the normal nourishing foods is not there as I know what supports my body to stay healthy.

    I love my friends dearly but there is no need or want for cards.

  10. We have received a few Christmas cards this year. We don’t do Christmas cards and the number we receive dwindles year on year.

    What I have noticed this year is how, for most, there is no real care in them. They are artefacts of going-through-the-motions-of-Christmas.

    Some cards are more carefully chosen than others and you can see what image that person wants to present. And you can feel when what is written inside is simply repetitive – which is understandable if you’re sitting down to write a whole heap in a short space of time. But then, what’s the point and what are you actually putting out there?

    Is it blind ‘this is what we do’? Is it regret? Is it a true wish to connect?

    What it has raised for me though, is a question about who is in my life that I am not having quality time with through the year and why that might be. Which feels like part of a year’s review and a re-connection with what’s important for the next cycle.

  11. Yesterday in the UK it was ‘Mad Friday’ – which is one of the busiest nights a year for Christmas Parties and Christmas drinking. The Ambulance services have to put on extra staff, and London Ambulance were live on tv saying alcohol related calls were expected to rise by 43% last night. There were many public safety announcements yesterday by the NHS and Ambulance Services, and others asking that we only call the emergency services for genuine emergencies.

    This is known each December on this same Friday. As harsh as this may sound, why is it that we have to put on extra emergency services, and the NHS which is pushed to the wall already has to cope with all these extra emergencies? At what point do we start to realise the ripple effect the way we live has on the wider community and society as a whole. Already there aren’t enough nurses to support the NHS – why is it that within that over stretched service we put even more pressure on it – because it’s December?

  12. I do not understand how people can celebrate the holidays the way we do, when there is so much craziness going on in the world.

    Partying is just a distraction so you do not feel what is really happening.

    How about celebrating by getting together and having some real conversations about what is going on in our lives?

    When you can relate personal experiences about your life it opens up a whole other level of connection.

    I am now getting together with friends twice a month in our home, a meeting that does not revolve around any thing in particular, just a space for true conversation. To me this is how I want to celebrate.

    There is so much that needs to be expressed!

    1. “Space for true conversation” – this is something so important, Ken. Thank you for the reminder, and the inspiration through sharing how you are approaching it.

      I am also appreciating your re-definition of what it means to celebrate.

      I have seen time and again, alcohol stand in the way of this. It is particularly prevalent in the holiday season.

  13. I was in a large store yesterday and as I arrived into the car park the tension was palpable of people wanting to park, to get their shopping done, and there were beeping horns, altercations, and grumpy looks. All of this two days before ‘Christmas’. If that is the way we have been preparing for this festive season, is it not possible that the grumpiness, weariness, overwhelm and frustration will spill over to the ‘day’ itself? And if it does not spill over in our mood, our physical body will definitely be in ‘catch up’ mode on Christmas Day recovering from the intensity of the days and weeks leading up to it. No wonder some get colds, flu or other ailments over this time.

  14. Why do people clean their house extra special when guests come over to visit?

    When I was a child I remember the tension around getting ready for a visit from relatives or friends. I did not understand it. By the time we were prepared for the visit everybody was stressed and exhausted.

    What is that all about?

    A clean house is important, but what is more important is why you are cleaning it.

    As a child it did not feel right because the reason why we were doing it was to make a good impression on the people that were visiting.

    Is that the right reason to have a clean house?

  15. Looking through the twitter and other social media feeds today there is a lot about Christmas. There were some well intentioned posts e.g. that Euston Station was turned into a place for the homeless to come and eat lunch yesterday, and many volunteered to support that.

    The question that comes to me is what exactly are our intentions in December? What are our intentions on 25th December? and even on 31st December? Is there a true purpose? Does whatever we do in December or on 25th and 31st December leave a true change for the year to come? How are we preparing for 2018?

    If we look back on 2017 – there is work to be done, we have a planet to run, one that is not well at this time – whether it is social atrocities, or other atrocities, there is much to consider as to why the world is the way it is at this time.

    Perhaps one of the ways we can have a purpose-full December is to look back at the year and ask ourselves ‘why?’ – ‘why are things the way they are?’ and, ‘what is really going on in the world today?’

  16. A coworker gave my wife a plate of cookies last week. I felt that he wanted to express his appreciation for what my wife brings to the workplace. I felt he would have rather talked to her but felt too embarrassed.

    I felt this because I have felt like this many times, wanting to express my love and appreciation for a person but too afraid to do it. Afraid to drop my protection and just be me and express all the love and tenderness I am.

    Is this why we give gifts and send cards and bake cookies?

    A poor substitute for a face to face meeting and a real connection.

    Let go and give what we all want. Love.

  17. I was out walking today and sharing with a friend about how I dreaded every December. There was this huge internal pressure to get the right outfit to wear at the big Xmas party and also the big New Year’s Eve celebration. I had some strict rules –

    Both outfits had to be very very different in every way.
    They must have some gold, silver or fake diamond sparkly stuff.
    They must hide my belly and not make me look fat.
    They must look perfect for my excess weight, which was guaranteed, as I would overeat during the whole of December.
    My hair must be cut and coloured to perfection and super careful planning was needed.

    Looking back I could feel how stressed I would get and the days and days I would spend trawling around the shops to find these outfits.

    Thank God I no longer subscribe to any of this stuff and I happen to feel the most content I have ever felt in my life and my dress size has dropped by 4 sizes and this has been stable for over a decade with no dieting.

    Incredible really what we choose to subscribe to that actually harms us and yet we are not aware of it. I am glad I did wake up and life now is totally opposite and that means it holds meaning and purpose every single day with no exhaustion to speak of and no sleep issues.

  18. This news article in the BBC News was an eye opener.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42333519

    Did any of us know that in the USA gun sales increase in December?

    The article states that giving a gun for Christmas in the USA is like giving diamonds in other cultures.

    What is going on?

    What was also alarming was seeing the children and teenagers in the video talking about guns, as if it were a natural part of their lives.

    Some said that it is OK to use guns, if we have good intentions or if it is for a good purpose.

    Can guns ever be used for a good purpose?

    We have guns that are used for seemingly ‘fun’ events like paint balling, but between 1990 – 2012 eye injuries related to non powder guns increased 168.8% in the USA.

    http://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/08/health/air-rifles-eye-injuries-pediatrics-study/index.html

    In 2015, Dr Douglas Fredrick from Stanford University, co-authored a study which found that hospital admissions for children with severe non powder gun eye injuries, increased by 500% from 2010 – 2012.

    What are we teaching our children about violence, respect for human life and care for themselves and others if we tell them that guns are good?

    If we break it down, would we ever find a baby reaching for a gun or would we even give one to them?

    I am sure that most will reply no to this, so why does it suddenly become acceptable as our children get older?

    What kind of adults will our children grow into if we teach them that guns are not harmful when they are?

    1. Yes I recall reading this news story and was not aware of how others see a gun for christmas as a top gift in USA.

      At the end of your comment Shevon, you mention what happens as our children get older.

      Well on that note, let me share some “Citizen Journalism” as I call it.
      It means on the street observation.

      I was with some sensible young boys on the seaside coast in England and they have these inside places, called Gaming Arcades for adults and children to play on machines and other screens that the modern day world is now plagued with.

      There were guns chained in all shapes and sizes on different gaming machines and kids and adults could have a go. There was no age restriction.

      I observed kids no older than aged 3 or 4 shooting, screaming and pointing their guns at the screen to kill the baddie. Parents were happy paying more so they could repeat it over and over again.

      This is entertainment and then ADD the online stuff that they seem to access on their parents mobile phone to keep quiet and pass the time and then social media and the rest and bingo we have children growing up who think it is totally normal and acceptable to want a gun or whatever it is they want, because they can.

      Imagine if more of us started reporting what we see everyday – where would Citizen Journalism be?
      For starters – Fake media stories would be well and truly gone.
      We – the people would have it all covered and there is nothing better than real life as we can ALL relate to it, even if we don’t like it.

  19. It seems that for many people, the arrival of the month of December heralds in a feeing of the ‘beginning of the end’.

    It seems to be in our psyche that December brings with it a conclusion to the past 11 months of all the good and bad things that have happened and that once December is out of the way and we start the New Year, everything will magically be forgotten and we then start anew.

    But of course, nothing is forgotten.

    Everything we don’t deal with will still be there in January-November and although we try very hard to make it appear different with our New Years resolutions, our gym memberships, our promises to cut down on our indulgences, our short lived convictions about being ‘nice’ to others and all the other changes we are going to make.

    We tell ourselves that this December will be the last time we drink and eat too much, this is the last time we spend hours and hours going shopping in the cold and rain and this is the last time we spend hours and hours writing Christmas cards and wrapping presents.

    But even as soon as Christmas day is over, we are already looking at finding bargains in the sales for next December.

    I can say all this because this is exactly how I used to behave when December came along.

    In fact, it actually started as early as September/October when the supermarkets would start to put their Christmas stock on the shelves.

    For me, December was a time I knew I could get away with indulging in alcohol and food and all the ‘good feelings’ that the Christmas period brought with it.

    For me, December was a time that I could tell myself that everything I had done in the past year didn’t matter now because as soon as January 1st came I would be making all these changes and things were going to be so much better.

    Of course, things didn’t change, at least not until I had an understanding from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine about how we view time.

    The Julian calendar, first introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC and then the Gregorian calendar, which is used around the world today, was introduced in 1582 and named after Pope Gregory XIII.

    The calendar is a man made invention that was introduced to basically keep a track of the day, month and year of any given time.

    The earth takes 365 days to orbit the sun. 365 24 hour periods exactly the same only for the earth to get back to its original position and start all over again.

    As a society we put a lot of stock in the fact that January 1st is the start of a new year and that we are going forward in time but is it possible that time is just an illusion?

    Is it possible that we aren’t actually going anywhere?

    Is it possible that we are repeating the same 24 hour period over and over again and we have been doing this for thousands of years?

    If this is true, does it make any sense to put so much emphasis on what is clearly not the start of a new year but simply the passing of another 24 hour cycle?

    For many of us, December will always be a time for indulgence, stress, anxiety and societal pressure but the truth is, we have made it so.

    We have a choice in everything we do, every second of the day so we can choose to get immersed in the month of December and all that that brings or we can see it as just another day.

  20. Yesterday a shopkeeper told me how she is looking forward to Christmas.

    She says she isn’t much into the presents but she does value the downtime.

    She said it is wonderful for those few days when the phone doesn’t ring and the emails stop – ‘everybody leaves you alone – you don’t have to do anything and you can stay in your pyjamas all day if you want to’.

    She said she is looking forward to it every day now. And it is November.

    It makes me wonder why our experience of life is so intense that we long for this retreat at Christmas. Wishing our days away til we get that downtime.

    What if it doesn’t have to be like that at all?

    What if we can live in a way that we don’t have that response to intensity?
    That self care and rest and working with purpose mean we don’t need the retreat.

    It feels like that opportunity is what this website is offering.

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