Empower Your Holiday Experience with a Peaceful, Open Heart
We have enormous power to erect positivity and goodwill, too
Gifts are for children Toys are for tots Bundle and share love from the depths of an open heart Spread love’s wildfire throughout our troubled world Unharness the power of kindness watch riches of peace unfurl
The hubby and I went to the equivalent of a tiny desk concert downtown Friday night before the holiday. If you’re not familiar, it’s a miniature concert set inside an office building. Ours is called the Break Room and houses our Jazz association responsible for creating the annual jazz festival and weekly entertainment series in the summer.
Festive was the street mood in every walking direction. Lights twinkling through and around trees from afar as children in colorful garb and their parents in hooded puffer jackets for the season scurried to the ice rink. A lovely, sparkling, sugar-coated winter wonderland.
Couples hand in hand or arms clasped, gliding in sync, happy to be in the company of loved ones and friends, headed to the theater, bar, or restaurant brimming with glee. Good vibes swirling happiness into the chilled air. On a frosty night, human oxygenated warmth enveloped the atmosphere.
After the tasty soul nourishment of contemporary jazz/R&B, we stopped at a bar for a nightcap. We ran into a friend we met a few years ago at a pandemic favorite, Asian fusion restaurant made popular because it has a large outside patio where people can spread out and still socialize at a distance.
He’s worked in IT cybersecurity for over 20 years. Although buzzed from happy hour, with animated gestures he made a good point, demonstrating how anger is rising, both hands slowly elevating towards the sky.
“Have you noticed people are angry? It starts online in social media. There’s a statement, then a thumbs up or down. Angry comments follow a separation of opinions in groups creating a collective nuclear cloud of anger that continues to rise and spread globally from the internet.”
I nodded. “Yes, like an electrical current of digital rage.”
We’ve all felt the residual energy, witnessed it. The customer who overreacts, spewing hate at a retail worker, the guy with road rage speeding, zigzagging in and out of traffic. A mother yelling at her child in the grocery store. The child reacting in anger and tears. It only takes a moment for the energy we put out to come back.
Energy is cyclical, it circles the globe like the Tasmanian devil.
Until the holidays are upon us when capitalism invades our minds and personal space with Black Friday Sales, Christmas carols, and manufactured good cheer.
Subliminal marketing at its finest spreading FOMO and the doldrums of lack in our global spirit.
Most of us seem to change our outlook during the holidays. Is it a collective mask we take out of the closet around Thanksgiving, then shove it back in after New Year’s Day when broke, busted and satiated? Is this the lesson we want to teach and leave as our legacy for the next generation?
Some sulk about the overindulgence and impending bills, then gear up for another rush on Valentine’s Day. We need to stop the madness, tend to those areas where we’ve stored negative energy — plug the leak where it seeps out into the universe.
We have the power to create our own peace through an open heart as individuals — to think, speak, and conduct ourselves positively.
Why don’t we all year round? If not for any other reason than our children, who are always observing our social and emotional cues, we need to be mindful all the time.
Last weekend I was at Peet’s Coffee and Tea as usual on the other side of town. An older white woman placed her order ahead of me, stepped out of line and seemed to glide past me in a maneuver so as not to be noticed.
Smallish as a nine-year-old with red bangs brushing the arch of her eyebrows, she couldn’t have been more than four feet, five inches. Alabaster skin, compared to my bronzed hue, told me our worlds were as far apart as any.
When she came back to the counter to get her order, I was still standing close to the pickup counter. She stood a few feet away staring at me — I was thinking how she reminded me of women in the early 1800s. Tiny, unassuming. Maybe I was staring too.
I could have easily thought she was rude had I been in another frame of heart, state of mind, acted according to a negative thought pattern. I smiled. She complimented me on my blue tie-dye sweatshirt, then referenced her appearance, and talked about going back home to rake leaves and feed her little dog.
“He’s an old Pomeranian. Let me show you a picture.” She pulled out her iPhone. Her dog was beautiful, with no visible sign of aging.
“I have a dog too — he’s a German Shepherd.” I pulled my iPhone out and showed her a picture.
“I love German shepherds. How old is he?”
“He’s five.”
“Be careful. German Shepherds are prone to hip dysplasia.”
“I know, but my husband feeds him organic natural dog food, sprinkles Omega oil, herbs and supplements on top. He’s probably healthier than I am.” We both chuckled.
“Oh, that’s good. Of course, it’s too late for my little dog.” Just then, my name was called for my holiday latte with cinnamon.
As I passed by, I smiled and said, “It’s never too late.”
The twinkle in her eye and a broad smile aligned our open hearts. “You’re right, it’s never too late.”
Late is a state of mind.
And just like that, I had an epiphany. We both realized our humanness was beyond skin color, mood, age, and any initial assumptions we may have held at the onset of our interaction.
In a brief exchange, we found commonality. I thought about how the exchange of positive energy with a stranger could spread just as fast as negative energy online or anywhere else in the world.
Without knowing it, we contributed to the positive savings bank of humanity in our corner of the world by depositing good vibes into a global account. How hard is that?
We don’t need relentless advertising to reach this level of caring for one another. Although “Giving Tuesday” is a noble cause, we shouldn’t need a specific day to encourage us to think about others.
Giving of ourselves in each moment is far more rewarding.
Kindness is doing what you can, where you are, with what you have. ~RAKtivist- an activist who practices random acts of kindness.
Now, go forth and spread positivity every day of the year even when you don’t feel like it. It has the power to change your mind, and alter your experience.
If you need more proof about heart energy, please feast your mind on my heart sister’s piece here. ❤️