As we rush madly into the holiday season, I am taking a step back.  Since my father passed away in 1995, it’s been part of my journey to pause around Christmas.

Reflect.

Look back on the year and see where it has taken me.  New heights and depths?  If not, I am not trying hard enough.

Calm.

I am a Thinker.  My mind races at the speed of light all day.  Learning.  Working.  Being.  Mothering.  I need to turn it off.

I am also a Giver and Rescuer and need to give first place to myself and my son.

Still.

In order to calm my heart, I need to quiet my mind.  I want to sit in absolute stillness and listen.  Feel.  Let it be.  Detach.  Observe.

Is my heart wild and windblown, like the waves during a hurricane?  White caps crashing in on the land?

Or is it tranquil?  Serene.  Peace.  Resonate.

How do you calm the seas of your mind?  Instead of striving … try thriving. Be.  Let.  Stay still.

That mindless chatter isn’t really mindless.  Where does it come from?  What is influencing it?  Thoughts are like the ripples that expand when a pebble is dropped in the middle of a calm lake.  Have you watched raindrops hit the surface of water?  The waves run into each other, faster and faster, until there is no discernible pattern.  Chaos.

What if the frenzied pace we all run at isn’t God?  Want.  Jealousy.  Hate.  Anger.  Feed.

Psalms 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God!”

Be the lighthouse in the storm.  Someone’s rock.  Break the flow.  Stand alone.

Have you ever followed your thoughts as they run wild?  You eventually overthink yourself into a corner.  Talk yourself out of something.  That harsh critic attacks in the confusion.  It’s easy to miss where it comes from.  Depression and anxiety live in the past and the future, while God is in the now.  Be present.

What if all of us just chilled?  Got off the Hamster Wheel?  Stop and think about what you are doing.  And to whom.  And why?  And how do you stop?

Be still.  Breathe.  Meditation became a dirty word.  It’s not Godlike.  It’s sinful.  It feels wrong to stop thinking.  But the goal isn’t to suppress your thoughts, it’s to surpass them.  Transcend.  Let thoughts bubble up and out.  Let them go.  Breathe.  In … Out …

For me, God has never spoken from a burning bush … unless that is a metaphor for my worried mind.  God quietly seeps in.  Thoughts.  Coincidences.  Shhhhh …. just listen instead of allowing your (sub)-conscious to spew constant chatter.  Only then will you find Him.

Honour the energy within you.  When we are unhappy, we don’t appreciate anything.  Anyone.  We fill ourselves with negativity.  We worship hate.  Where DO you think that stream comes from?  If the opposite of stillness is turbulence, then the opposite of God is … ?

What if you get to choose heaven or hell?  Where are you spending your time?  Where are you doing time?  Where does your restless mind wander?  Is it up to no good?  If idle hands are the Devil’s workshop, then perhaps an idle mind is God’s playground.

Cults indoctrinate by overwhelming your senses.  Think about how overloaded we are today.  What – or who – is fuelling this culture of hate?  Disharmony.  Division.  Fear.

Stop.  Stop fuelling the fire.

Get off the merry-go-round.  Do you choose to live in light or darkness?  What if heaven isn’t a destination?  And hell is a state of mind?

When I still my mind, I soothe my heart, which calms my soul.  And that releases my spirit.

The Fox

P.S.  This is why I shouldn’t go to bed early.  I have vivid dreams.  Today’s blog post is brought to you by a 3am awakening.  Yeah, it took me four hours to research and write.

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