Merry Christmas and greetings to everyone around the world of all faiths. We send you peace and good tidings from our home to yours. May you have love, joy and glad tidings now and throughout the whole year.

Photo by Ashley Hittinger at www.sxc.hu.home

From the kitchen table – Pat
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If you just enjoyed what you read, pay it forward and stumble it, bookmark it and enjoy the spirit of giving.

I talked in an earlier post, “Finding Inspiration”, on this topic and wanted to share more. Inspiration can come from a number of ways. This time of year, especially with the music and gathering of loved ones and friends, those warm memories and thoughts are created. But what if you don’t have the external reminders that bring inspiration? What do you draw on then?

Sometimes, it’s just a passing thought and if you catch it and hold it, something can materialize from it and you’ll be amazed at the outcome. I’ll give you an example of inspiration that happened to me.

Back in 2000, I was still working in the corporate world and I was reading a book from Ram Dass entitled, Still Here, which stirred me. I came across a passage where he’s talking about facilitating an Elder Circle through the Omega Institute in New York. He describes it:

“The oldest people in the group sit in a large circle, and the younger people sit just behind them. We use a talking stick, a custom adopted from a Native American tradition, and as they are ready, members of the inner circle can walk to the center, take the talking stick, return to their seats, and share their wisdom with the rest of the group….This is an opportunity for people to share their own wisdom and to contribute it to the collective group wisdom. Many people flower in the richness of this process, as the group becomes aware of how each person holds some part of the complex mosaic that is elder wisdom.”

I read this and had a fleeting thought, “Why not have something like this in the corporate world? We need to be able to talk and ‘flower’.” I mentioned it to my manager and he said to put something together and that evening on the way home on the bus, there I sat in the back writing notes in the back pages of a pocket calendar. My bus ride was 2 hours long with having to change buses in the middle of it all – I kept writing. The thoughts and ideas just kept flowing so much so that it was hard to contain not to mention I was running out of room to write on the pages of that small calendar. By the time I reached my destination, I had a draft outline and that night I put it in a presentation which I gave to my boss the next day. I didn’t think much about it until a couple of days later when he walked passed my desk from a meeting and said, “You’re on the hook!” I followed him into his office and asked him what he meant and he said, “You’re on the hook to give your talking-stick presentation in the next staff meeting tomorrow.” I was nervous and scared but I knew the birth of these talks was a result of acting on this inspiration. You can read another experience on this in my very first posting “Truth and Beauty”.

I hope you find inspiration today in whatever you’re doing. That still small voice is poised to whisper in your ear some thought or suggestion that may put you on track for a whole new life. Tune in and enjoy the ride.

From the kitchen table – Pat
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All of us have those special moments we reflect on especially during Christmas. You can remember when you were a child and how everything seemed so simple then – so innocent and pure. It was and it’s supposed to be!

I remember one night before Christmas; it was almost time for bed and I was getting excited. I looked out the window in the dark night and looked up in the sky with my face pressed against the cool windowpane searching for Santa. I didn’t see him but I distinctly remember hearing bells jingle as if a sleigh swooshed by overhead. That was all I needed before settling down for bed with my imaginations all aglow. Can you imagine what the children are feeling and remembering right now and how excited they are with anticipation as Christmas gets closer?

There was another time at Christmas, as a child still believing in Santa, when in our neighborhood there was a tradition of Santa coming around in his sleigh on a trailer pulled by a truck. We would watch for it, like the ice cream man, because there would be music playing from speakers and bright lights as he made his way up and down the streets. When we heard the music and knew he was on his way we would don our coats and hats and run out the door. As you made your way up to where the sleigh had stopped and saw Santa sitting there, it was like a dream. There in the cool, crisp night looking up at Santa, waiting your turn, you felt like all your prayers were answered. Then, when your turn came and you stepped up on the truck and sat on his lap and told him what you wanted for Christmas, it didn’t matter whether you ever got what you asked for or not. You just got to be with Santa. It was magical. I can still remember the sounds, smells and feelings I carried with me through the night and into Christmas day. He then gave you a netted stocking with small toys and candy as you moved your way down letting the next child step up.

What personal reflections do you have this Christmas? How do you remember it? Who were the people you enjoyed it with? Can you remember the excitement – the anticipation? Can you remember going to church, listening to music with the carols being sung depicting the holiness of the season on the eve of Christ’s birth? What would that night have been like over two thousand years ago? How important was that for you? What did you feel as you knelt and prayed?

Yes, it’s a magical time of the year and if you’ve not been as fortunate to have that many memories to draw on, you can start this year to make memories for yourself and whoever will be sharing it with you. If you’re alone this Christmas, know that there’s an intelligence out there that knows right where you’re at – at all times. As I mentioned in a previous post, “Authenticity”, Dr. Wayne Dyer quotes from A Course in Miracles something like, “If you knew who walked beside you on this path you have chosen you would never be fearful again.”

This Christmas, as you listen to the sounds of the children giggling and laughing over their new toys, the smells coming from the kitchen as you change channels for another football game, know that no matter what has brought you to this place where you are right now, you’re right where you’re supposed to be. There may be an angel waiting for you to help them get their wings. Listen for the jingle of the bells.

From the kitchen table – Pat
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I touched on this topic last weekend with some of the residents at Morningstar Assisted Living when we talked about “Generosity”.
Down through the years, there have always been people giving and people receiving but the quality of how we give and receive has changed. Also, our attitudes and the value we place on what we give has changed. Perhaps, today, because we live in a culture where products are mass produced, we’re used to getting what we want instantaneously and in the process we lose some of the appreciation.

In the past, the carpenter or cabinet maker that honed their craft and built each item by hand were unique in their style. It took weeks, sometimes months, before it was completed. When it was finished, it was a piece of art. There was no piece exactly alike and the craftsmanship and labor that went into those pieces were greatly appreciated because of the work that was put into it. When you gave or received a gift like this, the attitude was different. You knew what it took to construct that piece and it wasn’t taken lightly.

Today, we have so many choices and very little consideration is taken into the expertise of the craftsmanship. Yes, we want to buy quality work and you can tell by inspection if the work is good or poor but that’s usually where it ends. It’s not just in how we buy our gifts today that is different; it’s that we’ve lost the appreciation or value of these gifts. There’s no way we’d be able to supply the demand if mass production didn’t come into play but something has changed down through the years in why we give and how. We have a shopping list and we check it off as we purchase the items. It’s more of how much I accomplished: with that job now being out of the way – onto what else do I have to do. I know. I’m shopping at Christmas. It can be a horrendous undertaking. What I’m talking about is our attitude with how and what we’re giving….and receiving. There are two sides and I’ve just talked about the giving side. It needs to be balanced.

Don’t you know how excited you get when you’ve found that perfect gift you know your sister or brother will love? It makes you feel good and you can’t wait to give it to them. You watch as they take the package and you anxiously wait as they tear it open. It’s pure joy not only for them but for you. It’s also pure joy for the person receiving that gift and seeing you beam as they open it. They are just as blessed. This is the art of receiving and it is just as important. I would venture to say that for most of us it’s easier to give than to receive. I wonder why that is. Perhaps, it’s a sense of humility or a reflection of self worth. I don’t know but I’ll be noting my reactions. (I’m still thinking about this on a personal note.) But no matter what, how expensive or how large the gift, it’s the spirit and attitude of which it was both given and received – the love that was exchanged. We can teach our children these attitudes by helping them shop or make gifts to give during Christmas and on special occasions throughout the year. Then, they can also learn the spirit of giving not just receiving. They seem to have that receiving thing down pat.

Enjoy this holiday season and take note of the attitudes you place on giving and receiving this year. It will enhance and bless the spirit of the season even more.

From the kitchen table – Pat
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If you just enjoyed what you read, pay it forward and stumble it, bookmark it and enjoy the spirit of giving.

I read something this morning that struck me and made me think, particularly at this time of the year when we’re all scurrying around looking for that perfect gift.

Amy Blackmarr in her book, Going to Ground talks about working hard on dropping her attachments, material things. To her, it comes in reflection to something Thomas Merton said. I quote from Amy, “Thomas Merton wrote that everything you love for its own sake blinds your intellect and keeps you from knowing the way things really are….” Now in this passage, Merton does not specifically target material possessions; he says everything you love. But I, like Amy, wondered if we do lose touch with reality – the way things really are – when we have a lot of material possessions. Are we so attached to these things that it becomes our identity? It seems easier to attach to an inanimate object that requires nothing from us in return than with our relationships. Our attachments to people, family and friends, appear more difficult, as it requires work and looking at things from another’s point of view. We really love our stuff even though it’s not capable of giving love in return and yet maybe that is what we want – no responsibility or accountability. We give names to ships, cars and I remember my father lived in a house named Bluebird. Just recently, we sold a tractor and I was sad, like I was losing a member of the family. It served us well and I was going to miss it. You work so hard to get the things you want that you’re invested in it even though it has no investment in you, albeit the bank would come looking for you if you didn’t pay.

Dr. Wayne Dyer says, “You’re not what you have. You’re not what you do. And, you’re not what people think of you.” I’m thinking the less we’re attached to our material possessions the more we are free to know ourselves and others. We’re able to know the way things really are. We need to become more invested in our loved ones, friends and neighbors, co-workers and pets. I think this is what this holiday season reminds us and why it feels so good. It’s because this is truly what we were created to be: one with our Source and each other. Something to think about, huh?

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