Holiday Irony

Christmas Eve. Norman Rockwell, Thomas Kinkade and "Home for the Holidays" Christmas Carols. Snow falling, crackling fireplaces and the permeating scent of hot cider and sugar cookies. Presents under the tree and happy people opening colorful wrapping and bows while someone plays cheerful music and all sing along. A decorative table of red and green with all the holiday dishes like steaming turkey and sweet smelling honey baked ham....and then I woke up.

After spending all week buying and making the perfect holiday dinner, specially ordered to my family's request and packing all up so I could take the feast safely to my mom's, I got a call that my one sons had the flu and probably would not be eating. "Oh, by the way we will be about 3 hours later than originally planned" was also part of the message. So now with the feast already cooked it must be kept warm for another 3 hours. Well they did arrive and everything was now warm and cooling fast. I quickly set everything out and little did I know what was to come. The dinner was over in the blink of an eye. (good thing I got a picture) No one was really very hungry due to the flu and the lateness of the day, but I came prepared; I brought lots of freezer baggies so they could all enjoy the meal for days to come. Didn't I just put all this food in trays to be eaten and now it's going in baggies? Normally we would have spent the remainder of the evening eating dutch apple and pumpkin pies, drinking coffee and playing scrabble, but due to my son not feeling well and baby Sierra being fussy from being gone all day they had to leave early.

Scene two. This was Christmas Eve, now for Christmas Day. Liz and I had a wonderful, well deserved day planned; we rode our bikes through the park, got a wonderful massage and had one night at the Hilton which I won in a raffle months ago. We arrived at the Hilton around 6:00 pm and checked in, got to our room and settled in. We were there for less than an hour and I started to feel not so great. To make a long night short, I had the flu with all it messy frills. Then a few hours later Liz too, joined me in the all night parade to the bathroom.

What happened to Norman Rockwell and Thomas Kinkade and our Perfect Little Christmas? I thought, isn't this ironic. Here were are in a beautiful Hotel, a night just for us to recoup from our way too busy week and we wake up from the dream to a nightmare.

Epilogue: We are all over the flu, yes the whole family got it. Christmas 2009 has past into the Historic Book of Nightmares and we are more than ready for 2010. Begin Again in 2010. :)

A Gift of Love

Exhausted from shopping for the Christmas Eve Dinner I promised my kids this year, I hauled everything in the house and began to sort and plan. This year is a little different; I am cooking everything at my place and then taking it to my moms in Seal Beach and heating it all up there. So tonight is a long night of chopping, wrapping and attempting to fit it all in the fridge; then waking up early to get the turkey in the oven and everything else cooked.

As I said, I am exhausted and would like nothing more than to sit down on the couch and watch TV. So what causes me to go the extra mile? Where is the energy coming from and how do I keep going? Well the answer is always the same....Love. When my kids were babies and I went weeks with little sleep, when my mom was rushed to the hospital and I was up all night after working all day and taking care of a dear friend while she was making her transition even though I was going to school and working, all because of Love.

For me, doing things from Love is the greatest gift life can bestow on us and this time of year the opportunities are much more evident. There are places to fill the tummies of the hungry, organizations to bring smiles to children with toys and hugs for our loved ones in their Golden Years at retirement homes.

When gifts are given from Love everyone is the receiver.

Taking Time for Inner Peace

I have been out and about in the last week and I am sure the crowds and traffic have multiplied. Where are all these people the other 11 months out of the year? Truly December is the month of abundance. There are more cars, more people, more lights and more merchandise. There are more shoppers, more lines and more music. There is just more of everything, except for time. The days seem to be shorter, well they are, at least the time of light is.

In the last few days I feel as though I've been in a movie running on fast forward and when I get into my car I close the doors and sit very still for a few moments. The stillness and silence seems to be palpable due to the chaotic contrast of malls, grocery stores and parking lots. In those moments I recenter myself, and remember again, that I am Spirit having a human experience and I smile, even laugh out loud at the divine insanity it is to be human.

The Gift of the Present

Some days can be so full of so many different things to be done and today has been one of those days. It is now one o'clock in the morning and I have not stopped since eight this morning. I feel exhausted but well accomplished. I wonder where I got my energy today? Looking back over the day I discovered something...I was very much in the moment and present in every activity I did today and with every person I was with. Once I completed something, it was done and I went on the next; I did not get into overwhelm and worry about how I was going to do everything. The gift of being in the present was energy. What a concept! Since I have to get up early and I have had a long day, this is going to be a short blog. :)

It Must Be Overwhelm

I really love to write and I can be inspired by just about anything. For me...life is one big metaphor and we are all connected. So...I must be in overwhelm because nothing is coming to me tonight. I think my muse has taken the night off and my head is filled with sugar plums doing the tango. I have simplified my holiday season by giving the one size fits all gift; do you want to know what it is? Love; in the form of kindness, words of support, hugs and joy. No shopping, gift wrapping, lines or parking lots mimicking bumper cars at an amusement park. So why do I feel so overwhelmed?

Maybe I am tapping into the holiday spirit permeating the air, emanating from the thousands of people racing against the clock to complete the race by December 25th. I do love the lights and holiday music being played, and the decorations in the stores and the Christmas wrap. I like the change of pace, seeing things that would look so out of place ten months out of the year. Christmas feels like a completion; a treat for an yearly job well done.

So I am choosing not to be overwhelmed but in awe. Feeling wonderment and fascination for the beauty, the joy, the giving but most of all the love that I feel everywhere I go. Happy Holidays to you who have taken the time to read my message.

Being a "Peace" to the Puzzle

In the past year there has been so much stress and unrest in so many people, myself included. It has felt like being in a furnace and the heat was turned up making day to day living a bit uncomfortable. Believe it or not I have found many gifts in this last year.

I've discovered just how deep I can go within to find that profound peace we all have when the mind is clear and quiet. No matter what's going on we can choose to stop thinking the thoughts that are stressful and switch first to an empty mind then to thoughts that are peaceful. I know some may argue with this and it does not mean the outer circumstances will change but for the sake of our health we can change our inner state.

The personal empowerment I felt when I mastered this little gift is priceless, mainly because you can't buy it. No seminars, gurus or books can teach you to do this; it's all in the willingness to let go of the thoughts that are causing stress and realizing your power to choose your thoughts. So become a "peace" of this puzzle we call life.

When You Wish Upon A Star

I have been to Disneyland many, many times and tonight I was there again. Whenever I've been asked to make a wish either for my birthday or maybe I got the longer end of the wishbone, I have a standard one and that is for Peace on Earth. Every time I go to Disneyland my wish is granted.

Now I know Disneyland is not the whole planet however, the whole planet appears to be at Disneyland. Every nationality is represented there, every financial status, every age and every walk of life. I don't think you can go anywhere on the planet and find the diversity of people you see at Disneyland.

My wish of Peace on Earth is granted at Disneyland because everyone has a good time despite race, creed or color; religion, status or age. So many people in one place and there are no wars, no hate, no prejudice. I savor with gratitude to have those moments of Peace on Earth at Disneyland.

Living from the Formless Self

Recently I became aware of how many distractions we as humans deal with on a daily basis. The world we have so brilliantly created is full of ways to lure us away from our essence; that formless, infinite source within us. We are powered from within or better said, empowered from that source. We are perfect, whole and complete at the core of who we are, but we forget.

There is our jobs, our families, our relationships. There is how we show up as mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, husbands, wives and a million other hats we wear; then there is television, sports, movies, books, Starbucks, emails and drugs; and what about personal responsibilities like paying bills, grocery shopping, cleaning house, personal upkeep, car repairs and the lists go on and on. When do we have time to ever remember the amazing beings we all are. Not what we do but who we are at our core, the formless part of us without all or any of the hats we wear.

I am planting a seed in your consciousness by suggesting that you find at least five minutes a day (more if you can) to stop the mind and BE. Feel that formless essence vibrating in every cell of your being, keep your mind quiet and free and experience your magnificence. When we experience ourselves as infinite and full, we stop looking outside ourselves for anything or anyone to fix us or complete us. At that point we can be an example and emanate the truth of who we are so others can know that truth too. What an amazing new world we can create.