Sat, 5 January 2008 Surprise us! Be bold and thoughtful. Tell us your insights about your polarities. And please think of questions or exercises for us. Lynn Category: The Twelve Holy Nights -- posted at: 10:21 PM Comments[10] |
Inner Christmas journey today for me is to share this with some wise women I have met throughout the last few years, today, between 2.30pm - 5.30pm . I have called it the Sunday Afternoon Creative Circle. It will focus arround light, and an image of a star.
What gifts these wise women bring to share, what gifts they take into our world from todays connection - who knows?
Thank you Lyn for being part of what we all create,
with love from
Francesca
What gifts these wise women bring to share, what gifts they take into our world from todays connection - who knows?
Thank you Lyn for being part of what we all create,
with love from
Francesca
I was so excited to receive this site this year. I read each one each day. It was a releif this morning to read the closing today to see that 1) You released me from my "belief" that I had not received all that I was meant to receive because I did not get up in the middle of the night to spend in solitude, by candle light for 4 of the nights. Pressure I put on myself. And 2) that you would leave the site up for a year.
As I am able to complete the questions, I find it enlightening to go back and re-read what you have written to see, experience and accept my own letting go and my own understanding of polarities. So thank you for sharing this site!
I would also like to share with everyone some songs that I listened to through out the 12 days and will continue with.
Be Still and Know/Sunrise is Here by Shaina Noll
Angels Brought Me Here by Shannon Noll
Both I was able to download from Limewire.com
Thank you and may you all have your eyes open to see the blessings that God and the Universe have for you and your heart open to receive it!
As I am able to complete the questions, I find it enlightening to go back and re-read what you have written to see, experience and accept my own letting go and my own understanding of polarities. So thank you for sharing this site!
I would also like to share with everyone some songs that I listened to through out the 12 days and will continue with.
Be Still and Know/Sunrise is Here by Shaina Noll
Angels Brought Me Here by Shannon Noll
Both I was able to download from Limewire.com
Thank you and may you all have your eyes open to see the blessings that God and the Universe have for you and your heart open to receive it!
I came across some 'themes' as I reflected on the polarities selected in the Inner Christmas which I would translate into the following polarities:
Giving and Receiving
Giving is an act of kindness and compassion but may also be exercised out of duty or reflect our need to increase our own importance in other people's lives. Some people can give and keep their boundaries intact while others give to a point of draining themselves. The object of our gift impacts the receiver but is that effect always positive ? Is it a true gift as per the quote "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". Gifts are not always demonstrated in a material form. They also include acts of kindness, presence in someone's life, teaching and support. Mindfulness is a key element in giving what is needed in the moment.
At the opposite end of giving is receiving. At this spectrum we also encounter people who are mostly receivers, people who are truly in need and people who are incapable of comfortably receiving any gift. Reactions to receiving may have a lot to do with people's sense of entitlement and defectiveness. Perhaps removing all judgement would allow people to accept gifts for what they are ?
List 10 ways that you give and alongside reflect on what this act truly represents and it's true impact on the receiver.
Are you comfortable in accepting gifts from others ? Would you be comfortable in receiving the kind of gifts you gift to others ?
What types of gifts are you more comfortable with and what types are you less comfortable with ? What is the determining factor for this comfort ?
Duty and Free Will
Control and Letting go
Giving and Receiving
Giving is an act of kindness and compassion but may also be exercised out of duty or reflect our need to increase our own importance in other people's lives. Some people can give and keep their boundaries intact while others give to a point of draining themselves. The object of our gift impacts the receiver but is that effect always positive ? Is it a true gift as per the quote "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". Gifts are not always demonstrated in a material form. They also include acts of kindness, presence in someone's life, teaching and support. Mindfulness is a key element in giving what is needed in the moment.
At the opposite end of giving is receiving. At this spectrum we also encounter people who are mostly receivers, people who are truly in need and people who are incapable of comfortably receiving any gift. Reactions to receiving may have a lot to do with people's sense of entitlement and defectiveness. Perhaps removing all judgement would allow people to accept gifts for what they are ?
List 10 ways that you give and alongside reflect on what this act truly represents and it's true impact on the receiver.
Are you comfortable in accepting gifts from others ? Would you be comfortable in receiving the kind of gifts you gift to others ?
What types of gifts are you more comfortable with and what types are you less comfortable with ? What is the determining factor for this comfort ?
Duty and Free Will
Control and Letting go
Balance in all the poles was the key for my inner Christmas, that plus creating time for stillness to realize my need for change.
The polarizations I found most helpful were naturally the ones that I needed the most. At first, I wanted to focus on setting boundaries and learning to stop rescuing people.
Yet I see this self-created trap/story as something that helps me (gulp) stay safe/superior. Ego mind says; look at me I am so nice and others do not appreciate me. A great place to stay stuck, serves no one, least of all me….
I learned there are no new words. Words often get in the way of stillness, become confusing, and I can easily become caught up in “Thoughts� from my past.
When caught up in the Past or the Future, I often miss the “Now, as is�. When ego mind believes that it is “right� or superior, I am missing “this� as is moment of learning, hearing, and understanding.
I can ride a bike to work and my ego can make a superior judgment that a man driving an SUV is doing terrible things to the Earth… Thoughts and ego mind say; “See I am better than HE is�. There are other choices… such as acceptance. We all do the best we can.
I can see a poor begging person, and my thoughts could make the judgment… Why doesn’t he get a job and be like me? Again, for me there are other choices. We are all doing the best we can.
Alternatively, I can choose to see all through the eyes of now… without form, without past or future…. It is here that I find peace. I chose how to see, hear, and be, without judgment, illusion, nor superiority. I choose to see with acceptance and compassion.
We all have a story…. I can choose to live that story repeatedly. Once I sit with that thought, I realize ego mind created it… the STORY keeps me safe… it keeps others at a distance or less than/better than.
All an illusion? Living “Now� is often missed when ego mind keeps my old story going.
As long as I am looking at you… I do not have to see me… accept me, nor love me… I become right and superior… Silly me… all in my thoughts and ego/mind form… Ego cannot survive if I just say yes for that moment and accept life as is… There is so much peace in the stillness.
I learned though the exercises that there are no solutions in mind/ego form…. As they were created with ego mind and processed based on the past and our OLD story in the first place.
Is this how I have become polarized in the past? Now I ask self: Is that true? Who would I be without that story? Why am I creating that story NOW? What do I gain or lose as long as I keep that story going? What is the payoff of the choice to keep my story going?
Does this story create oneness, openness, and lightness? Am I creating an illusion in order to keep me safe?
For me, Safety equals STUCK. Learning to love and live without fear is my why OUT of stuckness ;) I am aware that Stuckness is not a word… but it fits here, so I will leave it.
For this moment I realize that for me, it is not about Safe and unsafe but more about balance and removing fear so I can see and live NOW as is. YES, Awareness disguised as a person.
Thank you Lynn, for these moments of connection, thoughts, and sacred time. I appreciate so very much the time and energy it took to make this happen. You are a gift to me, one that keeps on giving.
Thank you ALL for sharing your journeys in your Universe.
For a few moments each night we were all one, how comforting to sit with that thought and realize our choice to take the journey is the greatest gift of all.
Wishing you joy, love, and peace without fear. I wish for us all to continue to make room for stillness in our hearts. Say yes and surrender to what is…. Ego will not like it… but from this comes the little opening to peace.
Bless you all, Salli from California
The polarizations I found most helpful were naturally the ones that I needed the most. At first, I wanted to focus on setting boundaries and learning to stop rescuing people.
Yet I see this self-created trap/story as something that helps me (gulp) stay safe/superior. Ego mind says; look at me I am so nice and others do not appreciate me. A great place to stay stuck, serves no one, least of all me….
I learned there are no new words. Words often get in the way of stillness, become confusing, and I can easily become caught up in “Thoughts� from my past.
When caught up in the Past or the Future, I often miss the “Now, as is�. When ego mind believes that it is “right� or superior, I am missing “this� as is moment of learning, hearing, and understanding.
I can ride a bike to work and my ego can make a superior judgment that a man driving an SUV is doing terrible things to the Earth… Thoughts and ego mind say; “See I am better than HE is�. There are other choices… such as acceptance. We all do the best we can.
I can see a poor begging person, and my thoughts could make the judgment… Why doesn’t he get a job and be like me? Again, for me there are other choices. We are all doing the best we can.
Alternatively, I can choose to see all through the eyes of now… without form, without past or future…. It is here that I find peace. I chose how to see, hear, and be, without judgment, illusion, nor superiority. I choose to see with acceptance and compassion.
We all have a story…. I can choose to live that story repeatedly. Once I sit with that thought, I realize ego mind created it… the STORY keeps me safe… it keeps others at a distance or less than/better than.
All an illusion? Living “Now� is often missed when ego mind keeps my old story going.
As long as I am looking at you… I do not have to see me… accept me, nor love me… I become right and superior… Silly me… all in my thoughts and ego/mind form… Ego cannot survive if I just say yes for that moment and accept life as is… There is so much peace in the stillness.
I learned though the exercises that there are no solutions in mind/ego form…. As they were created with ego mind and processed based on the past and our OLD story in the first place.
Is this how I have become polarized in the past? Now I ask self: Is that true? Who would I be without that story? Why am I creating that story NOW? What do I gain or lose as long as I keep that story going? What is the payoff of the choice to keep my story going?
Does this story create oneness, openness, and lightness? Am I creating an illusion in order to keep me safe?
For me, Safety equals STUCK. Learning to love and live without fear is my why OUT of stuckness ;) I am aware that Stuckness is not a word… but it fits here, so I will leave it.
For this moment I realize that for me, it is not about Safe and unsafe but more about balance and removing fear so I can see and live NOW as is. YES, Awareness disguised as a person.
Thank you Lynn, for these moments of connection, thoughts, and sacred time. I appreciate so very much the time and energy it took to make this happen. You are a gift to me, one that keeps on giving.
Thank you ALL for sharing your journeys in your Universe.
For a few moments each night we were all one, how comforting to sit with that thought and realize our choice to take the journey is the greatest gift of all.
Wishing you joy, love, and peace without fear. I wish for us all to continue to make room for stillness in our hearts. Say yes and surrender to what is…. Ego will not like it… but from this comes the little opening to peace.
Bless you all, Salli from California
Five years ago, I wrote a book on polarities based on my labyrinth and dissertation research... these twelve nights have made me realize that it is time to work with this writing again, bring it up to date, and see how I can get it out into the world... I will let you know what happens with this over the next few months, since I am setting my intention here for you all to witness and see!
As I said before Lynn, I love that you provided space here for people to connect and share their experiences. It really made a difference. I hope some of you were able to visit my blog and saw how I used the twelve holy nights and epiphany to spark my creativity and contemplation. I love being able to share these words and images with others!
You can click on my name below to access my blog!
Thank you Lynn for creating these nights for us to drink deeply from. Much love to you and all!
As I said before Lynn, I love that you provided space here for people to connect and share their experiences. It really made a difference. I hope some of you were able to visit my blog and saw how I used the twelve holy nights and epiphany to spark my creativity and contemplation. I love being able to share these words and images with others!
You can click on my name below to access my blog!
Thank you Lynn for creating these nights for us to drink deeply from. Much love to you and all!
posted by: Lea on Sun, 1/6 10:46 PM EST
Dear Lynn, one of my readers, who is from India, asked me to tell you thank you for "organizing such a nice thing." He said he really "likes learning about different cultures and these twelve nights helped him to know more about Christmas."
posted by: Lea on Tue, 1/8 05:45 PM EST
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