Reflections On December 22, Christmas, And The End Of The World

It was with great excitement that I watched the clock strike midnight last Saturday. December 22. Whew. Apparently, we had survived the end of the world successfully. And I felt fine (with all due respect to R.E.M. of course). Time just kept on moving along – or as the Rolling Stones once noted, “time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for me”.

But that left us with Christmas just a scant 4 days later. Would we be able to get our last-minute shopping done?

They tell me that it was all just the beginning of the age of Aquarius. Little did I know. One thing that an impending and successfully averted apocalypse will do – it will cause you to reflect on life as you know it. And if the aforementioned apocalypse doesn’t put you in a reflective frame of mind, maybe Christmas and the holiday season will.

This time of year always finds me reflecting upon that which I have experienced this year: the roads I have traveled, the avenues I have explored, and the lessons I have learned. This holiday season was admittedly a quiet one. It wasn’t planned that way purposefully, as such, but it inadvertently evolved into a time of, yes, peace and quiet reflection. I took advantage of it.

Sometimes a little solitude will go a long way. It is not always for the faint of heart, but much can be learned when you have some stillness. When you remove the noise, you experience a heightened awareness.  Movies become more moving. Music becomes more exhilarating. Chocolate, however, still tastes as good as it always does. Simple pleasures in life become more vibrant when you are fully present to them. But in order to do so, you have to eliminate the noise to be present enough to find the peace.

However, if there was ever a time for noise, it is the holiday season. Peace, love and good will are easily lost in the hullabaloo that we call Christmas shopping. A lot tends to get lost in the mix at this time of year. You have to peel away many layers of commercialism to get down to the core of the holiday season, and even then you might be hard-pressed to find it. Good luck with finding stillness at this time of year. Maybe it was just a touch of serendipity for me. Timing is everything.

What if the world had ended on December 21st? If you knew you had just a few hours of time remaining before last call, before they turned off the lights and proclaimed “the party’s over”, for what would you be thankful?

I am thankful -

… for my health thus far, and for having five senses which have indulged me in the power of sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. Add to that the capacity to think and to reason. Physiology is a wonderful thing …

… for the challenges that have made me who I am …

… for making the decision, tentatively at first, to explore what was inside of me creatively, and then have the courage (or audacity) to share those heart-felt thoughts with others …

… for the many great people that are in my world or who’s footprints have left an indelible mark on my trail … and last but certainly not least …

… for those of you who take the time to visit this site and find some value, meaning, or even some modest entertainment value as I share my thoughts on the world around me.

But, alas, the world didn’t end – nor should our thanks and gratitude. We don’t need an excuse for a new era of consciousness, Mayan calendar or otherwise.

There is no better time than now. Time waits for no one. The fast-forward passage of time makes it all the more challenging to stop to acknowledge the simple things along the way. Love. Being present. Breathing it all in. Being thankful for what we have. Sharing all of that with those we love. Do we really need anything more?

Photo credits: suvodeb