The Holidays
As Thanksgiving is upon us and as Christmas, New Year’s Eve & Day approach, we are all engaged in various traditions…or lack thereof.
- Many of us find ourselves missing the holidays of our past when our families were intact.
- Others long for an imagined future that is better than now.
- And some of us are in the present, consciously making the best of what is in our lives right now.
The truth is “You get to choose.” What you choose has everything to do with your relative contentment and well being. I am cautious not to promote “happiness.” Happiness is a transient state. Our expectations about what we need to “be happy” can keep us in a perpetual search.
You Get to Decide
You get to decide what it means that things are different or the same.
You get to decide where to place your focus, attention and intention.
You get to decide that having yourself with you is enough, and you get to decide if you want to share that “self” with others.
Many recognize that their anxious and depressive thoughts and streams of consciousness betray them. However, they still struggle with closing off those streams of thought.
This is no accident. Our brains and neurons develop pathways to make all of our processes automatic and simple.
Choosing a New Way
Despite culture, family, brain, etc…and all of their contributions to our mood states and beliefs, the greatest gift is our ability and willingness to try a new way.
Be courageous. Courage allows for less than ideal circumstance to lead to ideal outcomes. You can choose a new way and get up each day and choose again.
The cultivation of mind, body and spiritual discipline is a practice that is refined. Our new ways of being and our ability to choose how we think, as well as our ability to cultivate our mood, are vital to our efforts.
You get to choose to join friends or family.
You get to choose to create friends and family.
You get to choose gratitude for whatever you have; wherever you are; whatever you are capable of doing and being.
You get to decide to put together holiday decorations just for you or to share with others.
You get to pick a meaningful cause to which you contribute your time, heart, energy, efforts and talent.
You get to reach out to a friend or loved one and invite them along.
You get to choose…even if you don’t believe it…you still get to choose.
Copyright © 2017 Ruby Blow. All rights reserved.
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