There is a coming sadness as this season of joy reaches its pinnacle with Chanukah and Christmas conjoining. “Tis the season” will soon be over. The season of miracles will be behind us. The Yule Log will be a heap of ash. The calendar will have turned. The tree will be on the sidewalk for collection; we will have taken down the lights; we will have put the nativity scenes and menorahs in the closet along with the ribbons and wrapping. Unfortunately, any lingering inking of the meaning of the holiday season will be also boxed up and put away. And so, we will go back to our everyday lives once again unaware of the miracles around us. We’ll ignore the mysterious splendor of miracle layered on miracle in every step we take. We will be deaf and blind to the miracle in which we constant engage: ourselves, each other person, and our surroundings. And, the challenge to be buoyant will return.
But, what if. What if we rewrote the lyrics of “Joy To The World” so that we lived the coming year in such a way that “Tis the season” became “tis the day” day after day until we can sing “tis the year.” Great miracles are happening all around us. When we stop being amazed, we stop revering; we stop appreciating; we stop celebrating; we stop making a pilgrimage to our hearts; we stop singing and dancing; we stop caring; we stop loving. You know, if you go about your lives without a wonder that defies frustration, despair, scoffing, sneering, even mocking, it just isn’t worth going there. You’ll not live each and every aspect of your life life as if its a work of art.
So, I ask, what do you lose when you wonder at a student or anyone, if you live all aspects of your life in what Rabbi Joshua Heschel called “radical amazement?” What if our frame of heart, that condition of consciousness in which each moment of life is apprehended, is that of a miracle, when each person is a blessing is a moment when the wondrous and the common, are never separated. What if you stood constantly in awe? What if you constantly were impressed. What if you always noticed? What if nothing and no one become “normal,” everyday, mundane, common?
I have striven to do two things since my epiphany 23 years ago, with jolts from having survived a bout of cancer a decade ago and a massive cerebral hemorrhage seven years ago. First,I get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted and nothing is treated casually; everything is incredible. I go about with caring mindfulness. I never treat life casually It makes the seemingly ordinary into something extraordinary, the insignificant into something significant, the small into something large. Second, I don’t wait to start living. My goal is to live life in the present moment with a consciousness of being aware.
To do this, I’ve learned several key life practices that I carry with me wherever I go, especially into the classroom:
1. I don’t have to act impressively to make an impression and to impress;
2. If I constantly worried about how I appear to others, I won’t really enjoy what I’m doing. Moreover, it’s hard looking ahead when I’m peering over my shoulder;
3. I’m not really concerned with how others define me. When they define me, they are defining and limiting themselves. It says everything about them and nothing about me. So, it’s their problem, not mine;
4. I refuse to allow other people make me into the person they want me to be who I don’t want to be. In the spirit Viktor Frankl, I can’t lose, or have taken away, who I am—unless I agree–I can only lose what I have;
5. #3 means I don’t limit myself or others. I don’t bury my or their miraculousness by labeling or defining myself and others. If I did, I’d be living up to an image and demanding others do so as well. That’s called “inauthenticity,” making true connection impossible;
6. I don’t interact with people according to my authority, role, or title. I’m just me. I’m not “Dr,” or “Professor of.” Just “Louis”(rhymes with “phooey”);
7. I realize intensely that now–the present moment–is all I have, and it’s my responsibility to make this now–not yesterday and not tomorrow–the primary focus of my life. Heck, the only time I can do anything is now;
8. Change is the natural state of all things, and if my perceptions and expectations don’t change, I’m in trouble;
9. I have discovered that a true inner peace does not come from what I have gathered, not in my position and title, not in my resume. Whenever I become anxious or stressed, I know the outside trappings have taken over;
10. The primary cause of unhappiness or happiness is never the situation or person, but my thoughts about it or them. I am constantly aware of the feelings I’m feeling and the thoughts I’m thinking. Being whatever I believe I am, has nothing to do with what I believe and everything to do with my state of heart and mind. My mindfulness is my greatest catalyst for growth, and it is a mindfulness that must feel and live, not just think and talk about.
11. I don’t need a reason for belief, faith, hope or love. I just feel them; I just do them, live with them, nurture them, abide by them.
Susie and I would like to wish one and all a merry, happy and all that. May your candle burn brightly and bring only light and warmth each day in the coming year so that you can joyously sing “tis the day” each day.
Louis
I usually just scan through your random thought but this morning I stopped and absorbed the words spoken! This was a much need provoking shake to my cage today. I have experienced my first lost (not death) of a professional mentor at out university. I thought this is what define me and my work but it’s not!
Thank you for rattling my cage and giving me the shaking moment I needed to remember we define our steps everyday. As you so stated “my mindfulness is my GREATEST catalyst of growth!”
Something to live by!
Merry Christmas,
TownZee