'Tis the season and what a season it is. Expectations coupled with emotions all cozied up with traditions.
Gatherings, traveling, meeting up with family, friends, and acquaintances, inducing excitement or anxiety. Either way, high spirits often mask what's lurking just beneath the surface - the past. You know, the holiday persona that comes out of the closet every year along with the decor.
Natural, unconscious or with purpose?
Who exactly shows up for these celebratory events claiming to be you?
Predicated by the event and who will be there, previous versions of yourself. Mom hosts the dinner, Uncle Bob dusts off his best jokes, childhood friend Sylvia is decorating diva and just by walking in a room you become the favored child, rebellious cousin, funniest pal from college.
Playing the role designated.
Or are forced into.
..... There's the rub.
Someone's pushing buttons, sneaking peeks, getting under your skin.
Hints of resentment light you up like a Christmas tree.
Makers ride the undercurrent, ever watchful and aware of who is showing up at any given time and what particular story they're operating from.
That's right, stories.
We all act in them, tell them, and perpetuate them for reasons that suit us.
An event occurs or something is said inciting emotion. A story emerges and meaning attached. Every time the story is told minute details change, are eliminated, forgotten, exaggerated. The original memory twisted and distorted, rarely seen for what it is, just an event taken from original perception and adjusted to hold importance.
Makers love their stories; it gives us a chance to play. We choose a different story or change the current one, make it mean something else. Create a new one. Tell that story, use those words, act upon that meaning and decide what value to place.
Reality, destruction and creation with intent.
If this yuletide season you're sitting in annoyance, anger or depression trying to make it through; give yourself a gift. Flip the switch on your brain, expose the story and constructed world you've created with meaning.
Make it mean nothing …..anything….
Strip it down to the bare bones, crush it to dust, and with a single breath release it, change it, replace it.
Eliminate the bonds you've chosen to hold, keeping meaning in place as fact.
Bottom line, you decide what context to view a memory from and its importance. You control whether a person's outdated opinion of you is valid and agree with it or not.
It is within your power to be a different person and decide if you even care to share that news. Sometimes not being who and/or where someone thinks you are, has its advantages.
Use it as a mental construct or move your energy directly.
The tissue paper will crinkle and some form of jolly experienced.
Empowerment and good cheer to all.
Comments 2
Thank you Jean, its fun isn't it. Normally I just wear my laughing mode when I'm out and about or if attending company Christmas party I tend to cue for cocktail coz its always been a long one
One thing that's always struck me about Christmas is how the holiday is an 'overlay' of Druid tradition and Christianity- well, really Christmas has even gone beyond religion it's a social thing, a commercial gift-giving event and a nice time for family to gather. But when I've taken walks in the fall I see huge trees dotted with dying leaves from other trees that might have been entangled from winds... hence the tradition of decorating a tree, perhaps? Also, December 25th was a sacred day for Druids, though I don't remember what exactly, but it revolved around trees. So I think back in the early days when old European societies were conquered, incorporating some of their traditions into a new one that had the same ritual acts but for different reasons, i.e, the birth of Christ in this case, helped the political-religious powers that be get the buy-in of the masses. We see this even in holidays like Easter, which in pagan days was to celebrate Oestra, the goddess of fertility, hence the Easter egg hunts... excellent post thank you!