The Holidays

The Morning Muse:
Even though I decided to take some time off from writing in order to fully absorb the holiday season, I felt the need to write once more in 2007. I will start up with more continuous postings after the New Year. Anyway, I wanted to write specifically about this time of year, the holidays, and the vast array of emotions that accompany the ending of the year. For me, the time between Christmas and New Year's is interesting, to say the least. It is a time in which I experience a dichotomy of moods (The holidays pretty much intensify my extremist nature). I can go from feeling a pure sense of closeness and comraderie to feeling independence and loneliness, from deep satisfaction and gratitude to a longingness and nostalgia, from hope and idealism to matter of fact realism. I asked myself today, "Why do I ride the rollercoaster of emotions at the end of every year?" My inner voice immediately replied, "Because you are releasing old emotions that do not serve you and trying on the new ones that do. You are preparing for the wonder that will come with the new year, and in order to be ready you have to sort yourself out." Finally, a sense of calm, balance, and purpose took me over. OH! It makes total sense. It's like when I buy some new clothes and I take a look at my closet and realize I have no room for my new stuff. I have to go through everything, make a big old mess, try things on, decide what I want to keep and what I want to give away. My closet becomes organized and it becomes a balance of my old stuff that still serves me and my new stuff that represents change. So, the holiday season for me is like reorganizing my emotional wardrobe! How's that for a metaphor. In light of this discovery, I am setting the intention that I will happily ride the rollercoaster with a healthy awareness and appreciation, and on January 1st I will look back and reflect on what I've learned.

Gratitude Review:
1. I appreciate family. My mom and sister came to visit for 5 days and we had the greatest time. I love that I have the kind of family that can embrace and laugh at our dysfunctions!
2. On that same note of finding humor in life's idiosyncracies, I love smart movies that favor the off-beat and individualistic nature of people. I just saw the movie, Juno. SO FUNNY! It reminds me how beautiful life is when we can accept who we truly are!
3. I can't say enough how much I love resale and vintage shopping. L.O.V.E., LOVE! Shopping for vintage is my favorite form of creative expression. I find it is such a fun way to be artistic. You look at a bunch of stuff, your brain sorts through to find the pieces that resonate as beautiful or special, and then you purchase them and make them your own. It involves imagination and and an artistic eye. I believe anything that in which you find, extract, or highlight beauty can be viewed as a form of creative expression...and resale and vintage shopping is one of mine!

Daily Musings:
Ride the holiday rollercoaster, and journal each day. Document the kaleidoscope of emotions you experience over the next few days. On the first day of the new year, before you make your resolutions, look back at your journal and reflect on what you learned. What emotional patterns can you let go of. Which ones are serving a purpose? What would you like to change, and commit to those changes. Make your resolutions, and make them thoughtful and reflective!

Have a wondeful day and a very very happy New Year's eve!