It takes gargantuan strength to handle eight flying reindeer.
I revved
myself up during my last blog regarding Christmas, and the celebration of it,
but then encountered the cold hard facts that many people would prefer to skip
Christmas altogether.
One
person told me that she would like to go straight from Halloween to New Year’s
day.
For her, it’s an endurance test.
What have
we done to people?
My
daughter says it’s the Norman Rockwell syndrome, of happy families, gathered in thankfulness and joy,
although, think of it, if you look at Rockwell’s paintings they incumber angst
as well as joy.
I’m
wondering if we have forgotten that sometimes life is a roller coaster. It has
ups and downs and embraces many facets,
not only the pretty pictures.
If you
expect a no-stress life, you will have a poor semblance of one.
I’m not
arguing for stress, mind you, I don’t want it, don’t like it, and try to avoid
it. However, here, I’m looking at realities. Is stress, as one person put it,
another word for fear?
People
fear what’s coming up for the holidays. They have had bad experiences in the
past and fear having them again. They have lost loved ones over the holiday
season. They feel pressure to perform, to give, or perhaps they have no family.
Maybe the family doesn’t care.
Chaos
creates a fight between the two sides of the nervous system. It’s like driving
a car with one foot on the accelerator, and the other on the brake.
We have
come to expect Christmas to be magical, and when it isn’t, we are disappointed.
Just
think, our grandparents lived through the great depression and a World War, and
we stress out over not having enough followers, or thinking we ought to
celebrate because the rest of the world is.
We need
to rethink our priorities.
Right
now, I’m thinking of all the meds I know some people are taking, and still, they have panic attacks, depression, suicidal
thoughts, and manic days.
“If we have poor coping skills,” says Dr.
Andrew Weil, “deficient social support, and high stress, then the internal
balance of our bodies may be easily upset, and
our resistance lowered.
“Illness
or disease then occurs more from our
vulnerability than from external agents.
“The
factors that place us at risk range from our attitudes and appraisal in coping
with stress to the kind of food we eat and the genes we inherit. Our mind and
behavior, our environment, and our genetic predispositions are the common
contributors to disease.”
Have you
heard the breakdown of the word disease into Dis-Ease? I guess for some
Christmas is a dis-ease.
“We know that smoking is a risk factor,” says Dr. Weil,” so is a persistent perception of
life as hopeless or uncontrollable.”
One way
to balance your nervous system is by breathing through your heart.
Research
has shown that the heart is composed of neurons, neurotransmitters, proteins
and support cells. It has its own nervous
system. And we thought it was the brain that controlled our lives. Nope, it has
a helper. (Source of information here is Doc
Childre & Howard Martin.)
Shift
your focus to the area around your heart.
Feel your
breath coming in through your heart and out through your solar plexus.
Activate
positive feelings and emotions by embodying them while breathing through your
heart.
What are
some of the funny times of your life?
What are
the loving times?
When have
you been proud of yourself?
What do
you appreciate most in your life right now?
I love
Christmas. I’ve had a good many of them, and so I look for new ways to
celebrate. Like take it easy on
yourself, make it your day, not what society dictates. Buy presents if you want, send cards if you want, cook if
you want, or don’t. And just for the fun
of it, Pay it forward to some stranger.
Isn’t the
idea of a baby being born on Christmas day magical? Isn’t the fantasy of Santa Claus magical? Isn’t the dream of a beautiful
time worth it? If people can’t see the magic around Christmas, they aren’t looking hard enough.
Heck,
watch the movie, “It's “Wonderful Life,”
again, or “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
You’re not too old. Oh oh, that might make us believe in happy endings.
I’m
preparing, I bought Champagne and macadamia nuts. (Homage to Hawaii.)
I
appreciate you guys.
I
appreciate that you allow me to have this expression and that you read my
words.
I
appreciate that I have a word processor. The old days of facing a blank page on
a typewriter are gone. Who Hoo.
I
appreciate that I have a warm house.
I
appreciate that I have access to good food
and that I am shortly going Christmas shopping. And that I have an abundant supply of goods from which to choose.
I
appreciate that wars are few and far between.
I
appreciate that most people have awakened to accept all sorts of people with
various skin pigmentation, and beliefs.
I
appreciate that I have the freedom to have all the above things I mentioned.
Aloha,
Re-Joyce
Remember
that Aloha, besides meaning Hello, Goodbye and I love you, is a way of life. It
is giving without expecting anything in return.
