Christmas Planning - Week 3

The importance of Stillness

Shall we sit side by side,
Maybe quietly chatting.
Maybe sitting in silence.
Maybe holding hands.

Shall we sit side by side,
and just be.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Just
Be.

Photo by Paige Cody on Unsplash

Hello dear one,

This is the second to last letter from me until Christmas.

I am unsure if during the Christmas season I will write to you.
Maybe I will take some time and just be still…

What about you?
What do you do at this time of year? Do you have any particular rituals, celebrations or events that you plan, attend or organise?
Are you planning anything in between the Christmas and New Year period? If so, what are you doing?

This Christmas time will be very different for my family and I.

As you know my beloved Uncle died this year. He was a stalwart figure in my life. I wrote a lot about his death here and here and here.

Every birthday.
Every holiday.
Every Christmas.
And most weekends in between my Uncle John was a significant part of my life.

This year marks the first Christmas without him…

It felt the same way after my Mum died.
That first year was surreal.

And then every year thereafter…

And
then
especially at significant times…

It all seems empty
and full,
present
and surreal
liminal
and concrete

Words.
Sometimes there are many.
Sometimes,
there are only a few. (Thank you

Julie Schmidt

for your recent article about words - or the lack of them!)

Sometimes I feel that our heart and soul speak a language
that our mind has yet to learn -
a secret language
that only the heart and soul can understand.

I am personally finding that it is at times much easier to
just be in the stillness of it all
to just feel
to just be present

to just reach out
hold hands
to just sit
in silence

to just share
or not
the memories,
the moments,
the day to day magic

and yet

sometimes
there is stillness
and in the stillness
there is

EVERYTHING.

• Pause more often in the lead up to Christmas - pause just because it is lovely to NOTICE what is going on around you. Pause because it is lovely to step out of the hustle and bustle and just be.

• Go about your day to day activities slower…try half your normal pace, and then try 1/4 of your normal pace…slow down. Feel the stillness wash over you. Do this if you are at the shops. Do this if you are at home. This may help if you still have more things to do and are feeling anxious and stressed.

• Talk slower and listen slower (I have found that when I choose to listen slower I listen to the words beyond the words and I feel that I then can understand my friend/family better).

• Go to bed earlier in the days up to Christmas. Rest the mind, body and soul and oh, how divine that is!

• Watch the dawn on Christmas Day.

• Watch the sunset on Christmas Day.

• December 22 is either the shortest or longest day of the year, depending on where you live. Slow down on this day. Be mindful of the energy on this day. Watch the dawn rise and praise the sun. It is the solstice - either Winter or Summer. What does the solstice mean for you? What does winter, or summer, mean to you?

• Sit quietly. Journal. Craft. Play an instrument. Sew. Such beautiful activities can create a lovely sense of stillness for yourself and others.

• Read your favourite book again. Read it slowly. Read it in a way that invites you to step beyond this time and place into another world whose characters are actually friends.

• Surround yourself with friends who you can be still with, without feeling that you always have to “entertain.”

• Have more cups of tea sipping, tasting, swallowing more slowly.

• Get a massage.

• Have a long luxurious bath.

• Stare out the window.

• Walk to places if you can and walk slower.

• If you need to drive to places, drive more consciously, so that all around you feels still despite the constant movement.

• Sit in your place of worship - be it a church, under a tree, on a rock, at the base of a waterfall. Just sit there and sit some more.

  
  

My dear friends,

What else can you add to this list to make your Christmas and Holiday Season Still?

Until next week,

May the last few days before Christmas be filled with soft, simple and still moments.

In kindness,

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This was part 3 of a 3 part series. Here are the previous posts