So wonderful to share this moment with you today to facilitate a mindfulness meditation as we approach and enter this holiday season.
I know for so many of us the holiday season is a time of deep love and richness,
But also a time of stress and sometimes sadness as well.
And so it's a great opportunity to bring some awareness and mindfulness to this moment that we're in.
So if you would just please join me in bringing some awareness to your breathing.
No need to change it,
But just bring awareness to it.
So your inhale and your exhale.
And for me,
My meditation always truly begins when I simply accept myself as I am in this moment.
Be it at peace or frazzled or frustrated or bored,
It doesn't matter.
It's when I can accept myself as I am that I can remember that I'm a child of God,
A child of Spirit.
And I know that this holiday time is a sacred time.
It's as if during the holiday time more so than any other time of the year we're reminded that we live in two times in this life.
One is the tick-tock time of everyday life,
The hours passing by,
The to-do lists,
Everything that we're supposed to be doing.
And at the same time,
There is this that we might call the sacred time,
The profane time.
It is that time that our ancestors had and their ancestors had.
It is the time of that eternal now,
That endless moment that the rituals of the holiday season bring forth.
Could it actually be when we're in sacred time that we can recall all the best memories of our holidays?
Ones that we celebrated together,
Or perhaps even that our ancestors celebrated before we do,
That in a sense they all take place right here and right now.
That is when we embark upon and practice this holiday spirit,
That we call forth all of our connections,
That when we cook a dish that our grandmother made we are indeed calling forth her spirit.
Or when a tear fills our eyes as we watch a child opening gift,
We recall an innate memory of our father opening a gift,
Or his father.
We are carrying on this sacred time.
This is such an important thing to remember when we confront feelings of loss and grief during the holidays,
Be it because of loved ones that are no longer with us,
Or because of holidays that didn't quite meet up to being sacred for us.
We have this opportunity in this here and now to center ourselves in this sacred time,
To let the TikTok time take care of itself as we take care of ourselves by being with this eternal spirit.
I invite you to take a moment just to allow any visuals,
Any representations of this sacred time to come forth for you.
It could be a moment with family,
It could be a scene of nature like snow outside.
Let this image become a strong symbol for you of what it means to connect to that eternal moment,
That eternal now,
That both tells us that the spirit of the holidays has always been and yet is always eternally brand new.
It can renew us and uplift us.
As we complete this time together,
I invite you to join me in affirmative prayer.
If you'd like,
Just allow your voice to be part of my own as I affirm that I know no matter what is taking place during this busy time,
No matter what feelings the ordinary time might bring,
Feelings of stress or not enough,
Feelings of loss or of sadness,
I know and bring myself in alignment with that sacred time and that sacred spirit that has always been and always will be.
I know that I am one with the divine presence and divine power.
I know that its grace surrounds me always.
I know that through this power I can know and remember and recall and feel everyone I've ever loved and perhaps even feel a connection with everyone I ever will love.
Right here and right now the wholeness of divinity is.
I embody it,
I embrace it,
I recall it moment by moment and I know it is there for me whenever I need to remember.
I am so grateful to know this truth and to allow it to become that much more the truth of who I am and every day of my life.
And so it is.
Amen.
