Alan Cohen - Practicing Peace

[Guest guest]

Alan Cohen - Practicing Peace

 

As you move through the holiday season, you may tend to feel overwhelmed

and frazzled by many activities, social obligations, family interactions,

financial issues, and emotional challenges. What a perfect opportunity to

practice peace!

 

Although ideally the holiday season is a time for spiritual renewal,

celebration of love, and deepening our relationships to each other and God,

many people get crazy. We rush from place to place trying to get the right

presents for our loved ones, and if a store doesn't have what we want, we

get angry. We go home for the holidays with lofty visions of being together

in a meaningful way, and old sensitive issues flare up, giving way to

bickering and divisiveness. If we give someone an expensive gift and they

give us no gift or an inexpensive one, we feel unfairly treated. If we are

not with someone special, we feel lonely and left out. We go to office

parties and consume all kinds of goodies that leave us with a tummy ache or

feeling guilty about putting on those pounds we vowed to lose or keep off.

What started out as a season of joy, turns into a confrontation with

everything in our life that distracts us from joy!

 

Yet there is another way to move through the holidays, one which will yield

you all the reward you seek, if you hold it foremost in your intention:

Keep peace first. Whatever anyone says or does, keep peace first. While

shopping, remember what you really seek is joy; no matter what happens,

have fun. When visiting relatives, fall back on love as the reason you are

there. When faced with that delicious-looking chocolate cake for dessert,

remember that nothing is more important than that you feel good inside. If

you decide to eat the cake, then really enjoy it and don't do a guilt trip

on yourself. If you choose not to eat it, pat yourself on the back for

being true to your intention. Either eat it and feel good or don't eat it

and feel good. Whatever you do, don't use your action as an excuse to not

feel good.

 

When visiting your family, make it your first priority to have a blessed

connection. Find common ground for the things you mutually enjoy doing and

talking about, and stay in that zone. If your parents or ex-spouse say or

do something that starts to press your buttons and you want to lash out,

don't go there. Don't fuel issues. Remember the Course in Miracles

question, " Would you rather be right or happy? " Before you visit, meditate

and visualize the kind of interaction you would like to have. Pay less

attention to what you plan to do, and more attention to who you want to be

and how you want to feel. When you dwell in the feeling you seek, you are

there.

 

If you feel lonely because you are not with a special someone, be that

special someone. Use the season as an opportunity for self-renewal,

contemplation, and reflection. Look over the events and experiences of the

past year, note what you have learned, and build a powerful vision for your

next year. Make this time really work on your behalf. And if you do not

have a love interest at the moment, you have dear friends with whom you

feel joyous and soul-nourished. Reach out to be with them.

 

The Holiday time is the one time of year that love, God, angels, Christ,

the miracle of Hanukkah, giving, generosity, and kindness are spoken of

openly and affirmed in our culture. This tremendous influx of spiritual

energy can lift us very high if we surf on it. If we have any resistances

to love, they show up big time. If any of that happens, use the experience

to pivot and ask, " How can I hold this experience so it lifts me? " Then

you will have used the holidays for a high and holy purpose: spiritual

mastery.

 

Remember the source rather than the accoutrements of our religious

holidays. In Judaism, we celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah. A lamp that by

all worldly expectations should have burned for only one day, burned for

eight days. Now there's a great image to emulate! In Christianity, we

celebrate the birth of Jesus, who demonstrated a life holding the light

above all else. This year be the Hanukkah candle. Be the Christ. Keep peace

first, and everything you want, you become.

 

Alan Cohen

http://www.inspirecast.com/cgi/friend/acohen/011218.htm