LOP At Christmas

Posted to FaceBook Dec. 5
The holiday season is upon us and the festivities, and gatherings, and preparations have begun.  This time of year, for many, means there are more things on the 'To Do' list than usual.  There's the shopping, and decorating, and baking, and writing to all those with whom we keep in touch.  There are work celebrations, and church festivities, travelling to gather with friends and families, and special activities at your local everything.  All of them not meant to feel obligatory, but sometimes . . .

This is a great time for practicing LOP, to listen honestly to what I want to be participating in and and where I want to be spending my energy.  This is a season of joy and celebration, of love, peace, and appreciation.  To do any of the preparations or activities from a place of frustration, resentment, or stress is not only not LOP, isn't it defeating, and an immense contradiction of, the whole idea?

I noticed this year that some of my usual Christmas activities are not feeling as joy filled.  It can be challenging to let them go because of tradition, or others' expectations, or just because everyone else is doing it.  But, doing what you have always done, leaves you in the same place as you were last year, and the year before, and sometimes the decade and generation before.  Listening to what is inspired might mean letting go of some things this year, but it may also mean you've made room for something new.  Sometimes the joy and love and spirit of the holiday season can most easily squeak through the cracks of the unexpected, the unplanned, and the unusual.

Ahhhh, Christmas, the perfect time and opportunity to be LOP.  A time to listen honestly to who we really are, to lovingly say "no thank you" to the rest, and to consciously allow the joy of the season to fill our hearts.

With Immense Appreciation -- Merry Christmas Everybody!