DAY 52

Advent

We are living this season right now, and regardless if we are fond of its liturgical or religious dimension, we can make the most of in order to improve our inner life. Indeed, Advent has a deep metaphorical meaning from the point of view of spiritual life that is wonderfully meaningful and moving

Advent can be a time of expectant waiting and preparation for light, either we want to understand it as the natural agent that stimulates sight -which is decreasing right now but will return-, or as an ethereal quality that makes our true essence visible. However, quite often it becomes a stressful task because we turn it into a race against time to plan the perfect Christmas

I´ve been trapped on this idea for a long time and even when a perfect Christmas (according to my opinion) involves positive things like high levels of love, harmony and understanding, a happy family around the table, a warm home, nice foods and a bit of glow... I´ve ended up discovering that this sort of expectations (not always feasible), as any other expectation, causes me unease, anxiety and sorrow

Giving up this idea of Christmas has been a hard work (to tell you the truth, it still is in progress) as it was a deeply rooted dream, but, on the other hand, this has saved me wanting to control destiny and has prevented me suffering

Does it mean that I don´t want golden lights, beautiful ornaments, gifts, laugh, carols, socks awaiting to be filled, handmade sweets, an enormous Christmas tree, luxury meals and so on? No, I want them... in fact, I want them all and more, but I´ve learned that this is not going to give me what I´m looking for, since these things themselves don´t enclose the sense of connection, of being accepted and loved that I´ve always wanted to feel

So now I take it easy. And I look for those things characteristic of this time of the year that can give me peace and a feeling of self-contentment. After all Advent and Christmas should be a joyous time, not a painful time

And how I do that? I take a deep breath and take time to be in the moment and celebrate this new awakened consciousness

I still love nice recipes, but now I look for healthy foods that can nurture also my soul

I still love lighting candles, but I try also to bring light to this world

I still love congenial meetings, but I have learnt to bless all who are present (and absent) and their wonderful diversity

I still love decorating my house, but I´m much more concerned by thanking home blessings and make things that can honor this space that I´ve taken for granted most of the year

I still love that bit of glow, but I now I l also look for the glow of the spirit which is made of faith, gratitude, acceptance, hope and true joy


here: an embroidered pillowcase that my grandmother gave to my my mom as a present, it was part of my grandma´s trousseau