When I decided to run The Peaceful Happy Holiday Season class, this was to grant myself a very big wish: to have my own peaceful, happy holiday season.

There is a lot of good stuff about the holidays. And a lot of stressful stuff.

This year I specifically did not want:

• That feeling of buying gifts for people who don’t need anything, just because we’re supposed to buy gifts, and being stressed out about whether or not they’d like the gift.
• That feeling of having eaten too much junk – you know that kind of stuff that’s at potluck parties or when I used to work in an office and there were sweets everywhere all the time and it’s like I was in a constant sugar coma.
• Feeling rushed or busy, worrying that I “haven’t done enough”, doing things I don’t really want to do because this is what people do.

I got my wish.

I’m participating in The Peaceful Happy Holiday Season class, and finding my inner happy zen.

I’m making a point to appreciate the delightful things in my day-to-day life.

I’m doing yin yoga for an hour each day and appreciating sinking into the energies of this time of year that encourage stillness and turning inward and going deeper.

I feel peaceful, bright and expansive.

Lights shine more brightly in the darkness.

It’s so strange the way our culture in North America approaches the holiday season, because this is our dark quiet time of the year.

We’re fighting the natural energies by filling it up with parties and shopping and obligations.

Surrounding ourselves with artificial twinkle lights and ornaments instead of creating space for the brilliance of our inner lights to shine out.

Then again, it’s not so strange when you really think about it, because creating space for your brilliance means being more present in your inner world means dealing with your shit.? Nobody wants to do that, and so artificial twinkle lights and ornaments start to seem like a good substitute.

They’re not, of course.

There is so much magic in going into the darkness, being with the quieter, inward-focused energies that surround us at this time of year.

How can you give stillness more space in your holiday season?

And yes – if you join the Circle today you can still participate in The Peaceful Happy Holiday Season class.