Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Now Here’s a Santa You’re Never Seen

It takes gargantuan strength to handle eight flying reindeer.

I revved myself up during my last blog regarding Christmas, and the celebration of it, but then encountered the cold hard facts that many people would prefer to skip Christmas altogether.

One person told me that she would like to go straight from Halloween to New Year’s day.

For her, it’s an endurance test.

What have we done to people?

My daughter says it’s the Norman Rockwell syndrome, of happy families, gathered in thankfulness and joy, although, think of it, if you look at Rockwell’s paintings they incumber angst as well as joy.

I’m wondering if we have forgotten that sometimes life is a roller coaster. It has ups and downs and embraces many facets, not only the pretty pictures.  

If you expect a no-stress life, you will have a poor semblance of one.

I’m not arguing for stress, mind you, I don’t want it, don’t like it, and try to avoid it. However, here, I’m looking at realities. Is stress, as one person put it, another word for fear?

People fear what’s coming up for the holidays. They have had bad experiences in the past and fear having them again. They have lost loved ones over the holiday season. They feel pressure to perform, to give, or perhaps they have no family. Maybe the family doesn’t care.

Chaos creates a fight between the two sides of the nervous system. It’s like driving a car with one foot on the accelerator, and the other on the brake.

We have come to expect Christmas to be magical, and when it isn’t, we are disappointed.

Just think, our grandparents lived through the great depression and a World War, and we stress out over not having enough followers, or thinking we ought to celebrate because the rest of the world is.

We need to rethink our priorities.

Right now, I’m thinking of all the meds I know some people are taking, and still, they have panic attacks, depression, suicidal thoughts, and manic days.

 “If we have poor coping skills,” says Dr. Andrew Weil, “deficient social support, and high stress, then the internal balance of our bodies may be easily upset, and our resistance lowered.

“Illness or disease then occurs more from our vulnerability than from external agents.

“The factors that place us at risk range from our attitudes and appraisal in coping with stress to the kind of food we eat and the genes we inherit. Our mind and behavior, our environment, and our genetic predispositions are the common contributors to disease.”

Have you heard the breakdown of the word disease into Dis-Ease? I guess for some Christmas is a dis-ease.

 “We know that smoking is a risk factor,” says Dr. Weil,” so is a persistent perception of life as hopeless or uncontrollable.”

One way to balance your nervous system is by breathing through your heart.

Research has shown that the heart is composed of neurons, neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells. It has its own nervous system. And we thought it was the brain that controlled our lives. Nope, it has a helper. (Source of information here is Doc Childre & Howard Martin.)

Shift your focus to the area around your heart.

Feel your breath coming in through your heart and out through your solar plexus.
Activate positive feelings and emotions by embodying them while breathing through your heart.

What are some of the funny times of your life?

What are the loving times?

When have you been proud of yourself?

What do you appreciate most in your life right now?

I love Christmas. I’ve had a good many of them, and so I look for new ways to celebrate.  Like take it easy on yourself, make it your day, not what society dictates. Buy presents if you want, send cards if you want, cook if you want, or don’t.  And just for the fun of it, Pay it forward to some stranger.



Isn’t the idea of a baby being born on Christmas day magical? Isn’t the fantasy of Santa Claus magical? Isn’t the dream of a beautiful time worth it? If people can’t see the magic around Christmas, they aren’t looking hard enough. 


 
Heck, watch the movie, “It's “Wonderful Life,” again, or “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”  You’re not too old. Oh oh, that might make us believe in happy endings.

I’m preparing, I bought Champagne and macadamia nuts. (Homage to Hawaii.)

I appreciate you guys.

I appreciate that you allow me to have this expression and that you read my words.

I appreciate that I have a word processor. The old days of facing a blank page on a typewriter are gone. Who Hoo.

I appreciate that I have a warm house.

I appreciate that I have access to good food and that I am shortly going Christmas shopping. And that I have an abundant supply of goods from which to choose.
I appreciate that wars are few and far between.

I appreciate that most people have awakened to accept all sorts of people with various skin pigmentation, and beliefs.

I appreciate that I have the freedom to have all the above things I mentioned.

Aloha,
Re-Joyce

Remember that Aloha, besides meaning Hello, Goodbye and I love you, is a way of life. It is giving without expecting anything in return.