Hello Everyone -
The Christmas Season is here! In its own unique way! But isn’t every Christmas unique?
We need Christmas! Regardless of how the year has unfolded, Christmas always comes around - inviting us to let go of our preoccupations, entanglements and habitual worries, to immerse ourselves in Beauty and Joy - in the music, the glittering decorations, the feasting and truly wishing each other well. All the carols and Christmas cards wish this for us! And so do I.
It’s the time to recall and celebrate the birth of a Great Master who fundamentally had One Lesson to teach. That singular message, the essential Christian vision which can transform life at every level - for every individual, community and society. It is very simple, it is Love.
It is that component that heals, ennobles, clarifies, energizes and motivates, and brings Wisdom into every situation.
We all know this to be true. From the time we were babies, through our years as a student, in our families, our relationships, in the workplace - we have thrived when Love was there and became unsure and anxious when it wasn’t. It was, and continues to be, like Oxygen.
It is also an essential part of our nature - meaning that it is always there, we can always access it and live our life, day to day, moment to moment, from that awareness.
I have to smile when I think that even with love - human beings can’t leave well enough alone. We have to complicate it! We have to bring in lots of thinking about it, judgements, fears around reciprocation, loss of freedom, other people’s opinions of us, worries as to outcome etc. etc. etc. Our egoic needs and outlook surface!
Our best case scenario may be that love is a feeling we experience with people who are close to us - those we trust and value. Our partners, children, close friends and family (or select members thereof), our areas of interest, and humanity (in a general sort of way) - and even all of them can be on thin ice!
Several years ago, in a session with a client, both of us, sitting together, had a highly enlightening experience that is actually hard to describe. It was as if a curtain fell and both of us shared an illuminating insight simultaneously, that almost took our breath away. The room seemed to crackle with the shift in energy. Through our exploration of the many people who had been in her life through the years, the insight was that, regardless of personal imperfections, short-comings and myriads of other factors, the most vital, life-giving, enriching, securing quality that some of them expressed and embodied was - Warmth. And it made ALL the difference!
Warmth is something we can give to anyone - no strings attached!
It comes from our heart. It can be seen in our eyes, heard in our voice, perceived in our smallest gestures and felt in our presence.
It can be experienced as respect, acknowledgement of our presence, and connection where no words are necessary. Babies thrive, students become enthusiastic, relationships can straighten out, workplaces are happier and more inspired, people get better and even heal faster when their nurse or doctor has warmth.
It’s a powerful force that can be extended to everyone. And - all its transformative benefits occur on both sides -
“Aimer et être aimé, c’est sentir le soleil des deux côtés”
- D. Viscott
Warmth - our gateway to Love, is all our own!
We don’t need particular conditions, the right circumstances or people to make it happen or to maintain it.
We already have it within us - every one of us!
It’s not dependent on external elements. It is within us and grows the more we practice it. It’s like a fire that grows when we tend to it. Eventually it becomes so strong that it is always with us, always available. It cannot be taken from us. We can always connect with it, shift into it - then watch what happens!
An interesting phenomenon, known to Developmental Psychologists, is that babies and young children experience love toward people in their environment. They interpret their very own loving nature as something provided by the caregiver, since they experience it when he or she is there. It sets up the idea that the environment is the cause, the activator of that feeling of love - leading to an on-going search for that experience outside ourselves. and for the "person who will make that happen", when it was ours all along! This is actually a life-changing insight!
This is the Christmas Message, the Ultimate Christmas Gift given by the Master Teacher whose birth we are remembering and celebrating over this Season. The beautiful thing is that this essential Christian vision is also the essence of Buddhism, Judaism and Islam. It has no boundaries!
This is also a central, if not THE central component of Mindfulness.
Please join us on Friday evening, December 18th from 7 to 9 p.m. on Zoom, for a Mindfulness Evening together, when we can explore these ideas further!
Registration is open and will close at 6 p.m. on Thursday,
December 17th. It may be completed by sending an e-transfer for $35 to: [email protected] Receipts will be provided for insurance purposes. Hope to see you there!
Warmest wishes from my heart to yours, for much Joy and Deep Peace at Christmas, and a New Year filled to the brim - and overflowing - with much happiness, fulfillment and Love des deux côtés!
Lynda
The Christmas Season is here! In its own unique way! But isn’t every Christmas unique?
We need Christmas! Regardless of how the year has unfolded, Christmas always comes around - inviting us to let go of our preoccupations, entanglements and habitual worries, to immerse ourselves in Beauty and Joy - in the music, the glittering decorations, the feasting and truly wishing each other well. All the carols and Christmas cards wish this for us! And so do I.
It’s the time to recall and celebrate the birth of a Great Master who fundamentally had One Lesson to teach. That singular message, the essential Christian vision which can transform life at every level - for every individual, community and society. It is very simple, it is Love.
It is that component that heals, ennobles, clarifies, energizes and motivates, and brings Wisdom into every situation.
We all know this to be true. From the time we were babies, through our years as a student, in our families, our relationships, in the workplace - we have thrived when Love was there and became unsure and anxious when it wasn’t. It was, and continues to be, like Oxygen.
It is also an essential part of our nature - meaning that it is always there, we can always access it and live our life, day to day, moment to moment, from that awareness.
I have to smile when I think that even with love - human beings can’t leave well enough alone. We have to complicate it! We have to bring in lots of thinking about it, judgements, fears around reciprocation, loss of freedom, other people’s opinions of us, worries as to outcome etc. etc. etc. Our egoic needs and outlook surface!
Our best case scenario may be that love is a feeling we experience with people who are close to us - those we trust and value. Our partners, children, close friends and family (or select members thereof), our areas of interest, and humanity (in a general sort of way) - and even all of them can be on thin ice!
Several years ago, in a session with a client, both of us, sitting together, had a highly enlightening experience that is actually hard to describe. It was as if a curtain fell and both of us shared an illuminating insight simultaneously, that almost took our breath away. The room seemed to crackle with the shift in energy. Through our exploration of the many people who had been in her life through the years, the insight was that, regardless of personal imperfections, short-comings and myriads of other factors, the most vital, life-giving, enriching, securing quality that some of them expressed and embodied was - Warmth. And it made ALL the difference!
Warmth is something we can give to anyone - no strings attached!
It comes from our heart. It can be seen in our eyes, heard in our voice, perceived in our smallest gestures and felt in our presence.
It can be experienced as respect, acknowledgement of our presence, and connection where no words are necessary. Babies thrive, students become enthusiastic, relationships can straighten out, workplaces are happier and more inspired, people get better and even heal faster when their nurse or doctor has warmth.
It’s a powerful force that can be extended to everyone. And - all its transformative benefits occur on both sides -
“Aimer et être aimé, c’est sentir le soleil des deux côtés”
- D. Viscott
Warmth - our gateway to Love, is all our own!
We don’t need particular conditions, the right circumstances or people to make it happen or to maintain it.
We already have it within us - every one of us!
It’s not dependent on external elements. It is within us and grows the more we practice it. It’s like a fire that grows when we tend to it. Eventually it becomes so strong that it is always with us, always available. It cannot be taken from us. We can always connect with it, shift into it - then watch what happens!
An interesting phenomenon, known to Developmental Psychologists, is that babies and young children experience love toward people in their environment. They interpret their very own loving nature as something provided by the caregiver, since they experience it when he or she is there. It sets up the idea that the environment is the cause, the activator of that feeling of love - leading to an on-going search for that experience outside ourselves. and for the "person who will make that happen", when it was ours all along! This is actually a life-changing insight!
This is the Christmas Message, the Ultimate Christmas Gift given by the Master Teacher whose birth we are remembering and celebrating over this Season. The beautiful thing is that this essential Christian vision is also the essence of Buddhism, Judaism and Islam. It has no boundaries!
This is also a central, if not THE central component of Mindfulness.
Please join us on Friday evening, December 18th from 7 to 9 p.m. on Zoom, for a Mindfulness Evening together, when we can explore these ideas further!
Registration is open and will close at 6 p.m. on Thursday,
December 17th. It may be completed by sending an e-transfer for $35 to: [email protected] Receipts will be provided for insurance purposes. Hope to see you there!
Warmest wishes from my heart to yours, for much Joy and Deep Peace at Christmas, and a New Year filled to the brim - and overflowing - with much happiness, fulfillment and Love des deux côtés!
Lynda
