Gratitude at Christmas
This Christmas I’m getting a later start by a day or two than planned. Since I had a biz trip. for a week in Oklahoma, I came home with a bad sinus infection. Something I’ve dealt with off and on for decades. Yet, no matter what is going on, you have the power to choose where to place your attention, and I would say that with a capital “A” – Attention. I’m placing my attention on gratitude this Christmas!
Last night I spent time with my Ruiz apprenticeship studies. It’s my third apprenticeship with don Miguel and his family, focused on what they call the Third Attention. I’ve studied with them over a decade now. And wouldn't you know it, but the focus on this lesson was, guess what? Yup. Gratitude! Gotta love it when a plan comes together! (I love saying that, lol – go A-Team! 😉 )
The Third Attention is the dream of the angels, of this third level. So appropriate for Christmas! In the Toltec tradition, Angels = messengers. At this point, we ask ourselves what kind of messenger we are to ourselves and to others and where we put our attention. We become the messengers from our own hearts, living from our own authentic heart space and looking at how we want to serve and live our life, what brings us joy. What we choose. What we don’t choose. The message we give is how we lead our lives. We are responsible for our own art, for our own choices, for holding our own space of integrity and not of fear, living in the present moment.
My art this Christmas is gratitude!
I'm so grateful my mom and dad are here and healthy and that we get to spend Christmas together. I missed seeing my mom on her birthday yesterday, but we talked twice with two long calls, including going over her Christmas dinner menu, the clam chowder we’ll have on Christmas Eve (our tradition) and of course the weather. I talk with my parents every day. That's a HUGE blessing! And what's always amazing to me is when you have loved ones dear to you that even if you don't see each other every day, that connection is such that you feel their presence even when they're not physically with you.
Part of that is me being an empath (on steroids lol! It means literally feeling what others feel), but I think it is part of the human experience. It was the same when my Grandma K was still alive. She lived in Galesburg, IL, but I still felt her as if she was here with me, even when she wasn't.
Grandma K always loved Christmas! One of my favorite stories is when Grandma would come here for Christmas, she would always make “date pudding” because my dad loved it! It was admittedly more like a dry, hard cake then what I call “pudding.” When she’d come pouring into the house with all of the things, and place the date pudding on the counter, my Uncle Bob would open it up, he would always say “it’s dry Roger, the date pudding is dry!” And how can you eat that, “you’d better put some goop on it,” (goop = code for whipped cream) etc. and so on. What a fun memory!
One of the things the Ruiz family teaches is about “golden time.” Staying in the present moment and enjoying the golden time you have with loved ones while they are here. Not worrying about the future and what it may or may not bring, but focusing on the now. And creating those memories!
In whatever manner you celebrate the season, I wish you fun memories, safe travels, warmth of a cozy hearth and gratitude for the present moment.
*****
p.s. Need help with your perspective in biz or in life? Book a free discovery call today. I would love to hear what you’re working on and how I might help you!