Maybe December is a month when we can slow down …

tawny-prairieMaybe December is a month when we can slow down instead of speeding up. Do one less thing and not one more. Why not take a nap? Let memories drift like fat, lazy snowflakes across the landscape of your life.

Make a wish list that encourages dreaming; the act of slipping into the world of marvels.

Why not drive leisurely through the tawny flanks of the Flint Hills? Stop. Look. Get out and stretch your arms up to the sky. Breathe in the sweet and pungent prairie air. Let this remind you of your natural beauty, your innate goodness, how much you do care about the well being of all people.

Spot a bald eagle flying over the Kaw.

Find a book you can’t put down, and don’t put it down.

Let your childhood innocence creep back into those dark pockets of despair.

Seek the intersection where the smallest thing sparks your imagination wide.

Find new ways to encourage yourself and others.

Cradle an egg, think and feel: MIRACLE! Know it.

Find something to be grateful for every day. Better yet, 3 times a day. Morning, noon and night, thankfulness–a good practice when cynicism makes you weary and wary.

As the darkness lengthens, remember to appreciate your home, warm bed, electricity, running and drinkable water, food that is safe and healthy to eat.

Watch a hilarious movie. If you are not laughing every day, do what you need to do to change that. FUN is not a fourletter word.

Practice your Unitarian and Universalist values by honoring the oneness of our existence. Meditate on a vision that sees everyone as worthy of love. Start with yourself and extend your reach out of your private circles. Dance, yes dance the dance that saves us all.

Help love go round and round touching everything with its live giving quality!

bald-eagle

If you think this is nonsense, just a bunch of fluff, try lightening up. Lay your burdens down. When the work of being human leavens into play, then we have healthy energy to do more good in this world. Joy has much more power than anger to heal the wounded. And we know there is much healing to be done in the world we live in.

May you have many moments of sweetness and light! Forget irony for a day or two. The term “sweetness and light,” used by Matthew Arnold, had a special use in literary and cultural criticism. It meant “pleasing and instructive.” Aim high, reach for beauty, take it in, and share it.

Michael (trying to be his best)

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