"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
~Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
As the holiday season rolls around, some of us lose the balance we have in our daily lives, and instead, dive full blown into feeding our egos. Our focus can become distorted and our familiar structures and routines literally disappear. Stretched in overwhelm, we can spend our energy trying to look good, do enough, chase perfectionism or seek approval. We can lose ourselves in the creating of our holiday production!
This is a recent attitude shift for me regarding the Christmas season. It stems from personal loss and my own profound grief. Expressing this truth prompts me either to hide or to "lighten up" as societal pressures whisper, I shouldn't feel this way. Yet, my perception has changed and my life filters are dramatically different.
I have a new found understanding and appreciation for many whose holiday experiences and memories aren't so full of joy and abundance.
This can be a dark time of year. Not just in earth's night but in the hearts of those who suffer. Today there exists great anger, unrest and destruction ~ dramatically born from pain, loss, and confusion. Our world and the speed in which we live, greatly challenges us to commit to a higher calling.
What if we surrender our blinders? What if we allow our sacrifice and experience to transcend judgment and limitation? Could we breakthrough our own pain to emerge with compassion and love for others? And could we make a conscious choice to trust our light to our brothers and sisters?
After all , isn't that what Jesus came to show us?