I was all set to write you about the holiday season’s stresses, and how we can choose another way; about the pain of rituals and traditions that remind us of losses or don’t feel right, and how we can build support for an easier experience. But you probably already know that, and if not, others are likely talking about it! Instead, I want to talk about your Soul, the spark within you that fuels your body and radiates your “You-ness” around you, wherever you are.
Soul loves ritual… when the ritual actually nourishes Soul, when the ritual responds to reality and acknowledges change. Soul loves ritual created for it, or dedicated to it.
Plenty of rituals will be enacted in the next few months, and you will probably participate in your own share of them. But when you do, and as you prepare for them, are you asking yourself what your Soul needs from them, what would nourish it this year? Of all the things you do this holiday season, the ones you love and the ones you don’t, what are you going to do to honor your Soul? And how are you inviting your loved ones to do the same?
I invite you now to use this sacred space that we build together around these words, to answer the question for yourself. Set your intention and allow yourself to be open, to release how you think things should be. Find a way to get out of your analytical mind, and let your heart speak.
One way to do that is to fill your heart with love— for your loved ones, your friends, your pets, for you. Let it fill with love for the people who populate your life, although you do not know them, like the postal carrier and the person at the supermarket check-out. Let your heart overflow with love for the trees and the sky, and the planet. And then, let yourself ask the question of what your Soul wants from you this holiday season. Allow the answer to emerge, let yourself know what you know, and, even after you leave this page and go on your way, stay alert to further answers coming unexpectedly.
I would be honored to read what comes through in your reflection. Please do share! I learned two things in doing the exercise: I want to light candles that celebrate my connection with those who are not on the physical plane, and my Soul would like me to create a ritual of play or art-making, that uses colored sand or sugar. I don’t know how that will matter, or if any further gifts will appear through doing it, but I trust that taking these actions are the next steps, perhaps the only ones, I am called to do. I will do so in celebration! What about you?
And if the holidays, or this year’s season in particular, are challenging to you, if you yearn to stay clear and feel centered and calm, I invite you to reach out to me to see how I can help you.
Whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving or not, I hold for you a time rich in gratitude for your many blessings; full of celebration and awareness of your unique gifts and contributions to the world; and the grace of experiencing the myriad forms of support that Spirit offers you!
