Reinventing The Holidays - Dissecting The Wisdom Of Shaltazar

As we enter that festive season of lights, decorations, gift-giving, and celebrations, it’s easy to fall back into old habits and customs surrounding the holidays which have served us in the past. This year, the pandemic is forcing us to release our attachments to those nostalgic longings, break from our routines, and consciously reevaluate what it is we are truly seeking from the season. This is our opportunity to keep that which raises our vibration and to release that which brings us down.

Transcript

And welcome back to another episode of Dissecting the Wisdom of Shaltazar.

My name is Jeffrey Eisen.

I'm a spiritual life coach,

Chandler of Shaltazar and an energy intuitive.

Welcome back,

Mark Lane,

My good friend,

My co-collaborator,

And as you call us co-conspirators,

It's so great to have you back again,

And I'm looking forward to our conversation.

Yeah.

Hi,

Jeffrey.

Yes,

So am I.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Interesting times.

We just had a full moon.

We're finished with the American Thanksgiving.

We're in the midst of Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays,

And it feels different this year.

I don't know about you,

But it feels a bit different in the midst of a pandemic.

There's something a little bit different.

We're trying to sort of have that normality,

And we talked about that in our other podcast series the other day about normal.

And this,

I don't know about you,

It's just not feeling as routine as it has.

And for me,

It's a good thing because it's sort of,

I'm wondering,

Why do we keep doing all of this,

This hype,

This Black Friday,

Cyber Monday,

This materialism,

This buying?

I find it very interesting because we're in midst,

You know,

From this point up until Christmas,

We're in a,

I feel,

It's sort of very much like an autopilot.

It's year after year,

We seem to do the same routine over and over again,

And this year it's obviously being disrupted by COVID.

So great opportunities for some learning and growth and breaking out of some paradigms.

Exactly.

And let's talk about that because that was my topic,

Surprising.

That this whole change,

This energy of change that we're living through right now,

You talked about,

You mentioned the word normal,

And there are a lot of people,

Especially at this time of year,

This holiday time of year,

Holidays tend to trigger this,

What I described as old energy,

Right?

We've lived through so many holidays and there's this nostalgia surrounding the holidays that we,

I think we try to,

And most people try to hang on to.

They're looking for that feeling that they used to get at Christmas time.

They're looking for that feeling they used to get at Thanksgiving.

And it may go all the way back to childhood.

And it seems that what COVID is doing is trying to pry our grip from that old familiar energy and to push us forward into something new.

And this is kind of a really pivotal time of the year that all of those feelings of nostalgia and what is normal and trying to hold on to past feelings and memories kind of comes to a head and to a peak.

And I'm curious to what you have to say about,

Is that good or bad?

What are we supposed to do with this?

Yeah,

Well,

I guess I'll represent Shaltazar in saying that it's neither good nor bad,

It just is.

Because if we get into that good and bad,

We get into judgment.

And I personally much prefer to look at things more from the learning and growth.

And so what can we reap from this?

You said something that triggered a real strong belief in me that I learned from Shaltazar.

And it is not a particular thing that we want,

It is the feeling that we think that thing will give us.

And so I think the opportunity here is to still hold on to the feelings,

The pleasant,

Comfortable feelings that this time of year gave us.

And then release from the fact that how we are supposed to get them is the way we've always got them.

And because when you look at the holidays,

There are people that really love the family gatherings.

There are people that dread the family gatherings.

There are people that love the gift exchange.

And there are people that dread the credit card overload because of those gifts.

And so I think the great opportunity for us now,

And I really believe that this great opportunity for change is providing it,

Is to take inventory of the feelings you want this time of year.

I think that's the most important thing.

And it's not gift giving,

It's the feeling you get from the gift giving.

It's not being with the family per se,

It's the feelings.

Because in some cases,

You know,

As a coach,

I see,

Unfortunately,

A lot of dysfunctional families,

And a lot of issues within that family.

Well,

Those people most likely could never get the feelings of love,

Camaraderie,

Connection with their family because of their personal history.

So if your desire is to have those feelings,

Maybe you're going to get it from friends,

Maybe you're going to get it from acquaintances,

Maybe you're going to get it by doing good deeds,

You know.

And so I think it's important for us to change the paradigm.

And the way to do so is focus on what you want to feel.

And I truly believe that we have an opportunity to extend it beyond the one month a year that we have.

When you stop and think about it,

Again,

It's not the gift,

It's the sense of goodness you get from giving,

And the sense of gratitude you get from receiving.

So if that's what we want,

Then how can we do that more of the time?

Why does it have to be,

You know,

Between the end of November and the end of December?

Why aren't we having it?

And what flashed in my mind is,

Oh no,

The New Year's resolutions are coming.

Oh no,

We're going to have to make that list again of all of those changes.

Why don't we do this on a continual basis?

So I think things are being shattered and blown up because what we have been doing is not necessarily what is in our highest good.

Does that make sense?

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

No,

I get a sense of that too.

That's what I meant when I said that it seems like COVID is trying to pry our grip from the past because what we've been doing,

Not that it isn't working,

But it's tied to old energy.

And it seems like that this shift that we're going through right now is designed to kind of get us to let go of the past,

Let go of the old energy,

Let go of the old paradigms,

The old routines and customs,

And develop a set of new energy or new customs and new beliefs surrounded by that new energy.

Exactly.

So let me ask you a question.

Growing up,

What did you like most about,

We'll call it the holiday season?

Oh,

That's a good question.

People are going to think I'm a liar when I say this.

Oh,

I won't.

I love you,

Mark.

Okay.

To all kids,

I think it's about Santa,

It's about gifts,

It's about presents,

What's going to be under the tree.

I was always more fascinated by the break in the routine.

I think that was a big thing for me.

The end of school,

And then being able to be at home because I've always kind of been a homebody,

I guess,

And I've always been a creative.

When I was younger,

Obviously I wasn't a writer then,

But I was an imaginer.

And so I was always imagining things and stories were playing in my head.

I lived in a fantasy existence when I was allowed to do that.

The school was very structured and routinized,

And it didn't really honor the creative side of me.

So getting the middle of the year,

Getting a break from that routine and from that mental drudgery was very relieving to me.

And so that was,

I think the feeling that I attached to that time when I was a kid was just that feeling of liberation,

I think,

More than anything.

Excellent.

And I just want to bring to your attention before we got on this episode,

You were telling me that you've begun some new habits,

You take some breaks during the day,

You break your routine,

And you find it's been very,

Very helpful in your productivity,

Which is kind of interesting because that's what you told me you got most out of the holiday season.

And so,

You know,

Whether we know it or not,

And so it's kind of interesting,

Maybe,

You know,

People will think that we contrived this,

But we didn't.

You simply talked about what you got from the holidays,

And whether you knew it or not,

You have sort of applied it in a microcosm to change your work habits right now.

And so,

You know,

Maybe these routines,

This normalcy of this time of year is being shaken up so we can sort of look at what it is we like about it and then apply it to our lives in other ways.

And so it's kind of neat.

And for the people that would say when they were younger,

It was Santa and the tree and the presents,

Most likely,

If they peel back the onion,

They'd think that that sense of worthiness,

That sense of receiving a gift as a reward,

Whatever it is.

And so I really think that this great potential for change that Shalt Azhar is talking about is an opportunity to look deeper at what we do and to see the feelings that we're really looking for,

And then to start manifesting and intending those feelings in different ways.

That's how the positive change is going to happen.

If you could make a list of all of the things you want to feel more of in your life,

And you also made a list of everything you wanted to feel less of in your life,

And maybe that's what we send off to Santa,

And we say,

Okay,

Santa,

You know,

And I know COVID is kind of slowing things down,

So I'm going to make this wish for all of 2021.

Can you bring me more of these feelings,

And can you help me eliminate these other feelings?

And,

You know,

Maybe the universe will conspire to give you that.

And so I think it's important to look at what we've taken for granted as a human routine and look a little bit deeper into the energy of that routine so that we can learn a little bit more about conscious creating.

Yeah,

Yeah,

That's a good point.

You've mentioned before,

You know,

The idea of many people being on autopilot and just kind of going through the motions,

And,

You know,

That kind of hearkens to this,

Too,

That,

You know,

During the holidays we do kind of jump into autopilot mode,

I think,

You know,

And it's like,

Okay,

Well,

We've got to get this done by this date,

And,

You know,

We've got to make sure,

You know,

The tree's up and the presents are wrapped,

And,

You know,

We've invited Aunt Marge to dinner,

And,

You know,

All those different things that have kind of become custom,

You know,

On Christmas Eve we go to this person's house,

And then this person's house,

And then Christmas Day we do this and this.

And now,

You know,

Obviously we,

You know,

Well,

At least most people I don't think are doing those group things anymore,

So it just kind of pulling our consciousness out of that autopilot mode where we're,

You know,

We're just kind of going through the motions and making it more conscious and more aware,

And,

You know,

Oh,

Geez,

You know,

If I'm going to give so-and-so their present this year,

I'm going to have to ship it,

I'm going to have to mail it,

Or I'm going to have to do something different because I can't,

You know,

I can't go see them.

It's sort of just that shaking up of it all,

I think,

Brings you more into contact with those feelings that you're talking about.

Kind of peels the,

You know,

It kind of peels the tough rind off of it and gets down to the tender inside.

Well,

Yeah,

And,

You know,

There are just so many paradigms,

So many autopilot things that we could be challenging.

People,

You know,

People are saying that more Christmas trees are being sold this year and more people are decorating their houses,

Right?

And I don't know about you,

You know,

I was raised of the Jewish faith,

So we don't celebrate Christmas,

But it's Chanukah,

And it's kind of interesting how Chanukah and Christmas have taken on the same secular kind of routines and habits,

But people often comment that they love the decorations.

And I remember visiting my parents when they were alive down in Florida around Christmas time,

And they would have flotillas of boats with lights on them.

And,

You know,

Why does it have to be just Christmas?

Why don't people decorate their homes all year round?

And I don't know about you,

But I'm noticing here in Toronto that whether it's Halloween or whatever holiday,

More and more people are decorating the front of their house with blow ups and lights and things like that.

Why doesn't that become more of an all year round kind of thing?

So what are the things that we're doing around the holidays that really make us feel good,

And why do they have to just be around the holidays?

Right,

Right.

Yeah,

That's a good question.

I mean,

It occurs to me that maybe it's,

You know,

Maybe it is that idea of pausing the,

You know,

Day to day routine or the work routine or something,

You know,

That it seems like,

You know,

I know that some of the work I do,

The people I work for always say,

Well,

You know,

When you get to December 1st,

Forget about it,

Nothing's going to get done because everybody's kind of in holiday mode,

You know.

Well,

Maybe that holiday mode is how we're supposed to be all the whole year.

And we're supposed to kind of more marginalize that,

You know,

That work mode and be less,

You know,

Focused on all that stuff.

I don't know.

I really think it's an opportunity to dissect the parts of the holiday season that bring up our vibration and dissect the parts of the holiday season that bring down our vibration.

Because,

You know,

For the less fortunate,

For the elderly,

For the sick,

For the people who have financial woes,

The homeless,

The holidays are a period of great stress because they get to emphasize what's missing in their life,

You know.

And so,

Just think about it.

Wouldn't this be interesting if it was an opportunity to rewrite traditions,

To rewrite the way we do things?

And I truly believe that the motivation for rewriting it should be on what makes us and others feel good.

Right.

Yeah.

That's,

I mean,

That's what the holidays are for,

Right?

They're about feeling good.

Right.

So,

Why aren't we having that be the,

You know,

Having that be the focus,

Right?

Right.

And,

You know.

Gifts or anything else.

Yeah.

Going back to what you learned from your early days in Christmas,

Taking that break,

Feeding your creativity.

Well,

You've kind of incorporated that,

You've incorporated that in your day-to-day life.

That's why we do these podcasts.

That's why you do the writing that you do.

You've sort of infused that break into your work life and it makes life more enjoyable,

Certainly,

Hopefully more tolerable.

And so,

You know,

Interestingly enough,

Just taking a moment and reflecting.

And I know I caught you off guard a little bit when I asked you that question.

But you recovered very quickly and realized what you learned from those early holiday celebrations.

And whether you know it or not,

That lesson stuck with you and you have applied it in your life,

Right?

Taking a break from the routine,

Feeding your creativity,

Feeding your imagination.

That,

You learned it at a young age by going through the Christmas break.

But whether you know it or not,

You applied it.

And I think that's what we lose when we're on autopilot is we just do it without understanding what we're doing and what effect it has on us,

What effect it has on our vibration.

So,

You know,

My wish for everyone is take what you enjoyed most out of the holidays and figure out how you can do it all year round.

Take what you like least from the holidays and figure out how you can eliminate that from your life.

I think it can be a beautiful learning experience where it's a gift that keeps giving for all of 2021.

And will then allow us to create new habits,

New norms,

New ways of doing things.

And my belief is if we do that,

The universe is going to get off our back and we're going to be able to move on.

And if we don't,

I think we're going to see more COVID like experiences,

Whether they be natural disasters or whatever.

I truly believe that the universe wants us to make some monumental shifts in how we operate.

And so,

You know,

Take the holiday season,

Take what we're going through now and use it as the food for thought,

Use it for the reflection on how you're going to change your life.

Because Shaltazar says,

If we want to change the whole,

We have to start by changing the individual.

Right.

Yeah.

And I guess my final thought to that,

I think there's a reluctance on the part of a lot of people to make that change,

To let go of some of those traditions and routines and familiar habits that,

Especially this time of year,

That relate to the holidays.

And perhaps by doing what you suggest,

People will start to realize that it's not that scary.

Nothing bad is going to happen by letting go of some of those old ways of doing things and old habits.

But the upside of trying to do it a new way and bring new energy to it,

As you're suggesting,

Is going to be marvelous and fabulous and feel really good and kind of overshadow that fear of the change.

Right.

And as you're talking,

It reminds me,

And I wasn't around when we moved from an agrarian culture to the Industrial Revolution,

But I could imagine for the people back then,

Our ancestors that didn't have the technology and the know-how that we now have,

When your job became extinct.

If you went kicking and fighting,

I'm sure you had an awful lot of suffering.

And those that were adaptable,

Those that were willing to change adapted.

And that is the way of the world.

We will always have these cycles of change.

And I encourage the listeners,

Be a pioneer,

Be at the forefront of that curve.

Because if you're at the back end,

You're going to be subjecting yourself to a lot of suffering and kicking and screaming because the world is going to move on whether you choose to or not.

So why not be one of the ones at the front of the curve that is helping make the changes,

Not ones at the caboose of the train that doesn't quite enjoy the ride as much.

It's a bit bumpier back there.

And you can't see forward.

You're always looking backwards.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's like,

Oh God,

I just missed that.

I just missed that.

Right on.

Well,

Thank you,

Mark,

So much for this conversation.

We're out of time.

It was great.

It was really interesting and hope it was inspirational for people.

Use this time of year as an opportunity because there is no option to change.

And if you can take that normalcy that we used to have in the holiday season,

Look for the good in it,

Look for the benefit in it,

Look for what was enjoyable and use that to apply moving forward.

I'm sure that we will get through this as we will get through what the world is going through.

Thank you so much for having this conversation with me,

Mark.

Oh,

Great.

I really enjoyed it,

Jeffrey.

Thank you.

It was fun.

And we'll see you next time.

Love and light to everyone.

Reviews

I needed to hear this- thank you so much for this talk! 🙏💗

Excellent message, thank you x