It seems every year as the days grow shorter and the nights so long and dark everyone is getting stressed or acting odd or not in their usual manner. Some of the reason is simply the sunlight is a stimulant of endorphins in our brains that keep our moods on an even keel. As the darkness grows many of us actually change our personality because those endorphins are at a low from not enough sunlight. If you are acting in an abnormal manner or have a loved one who is not quite themselves maybe trying or suggesting some of these known remedies can transform you/them back to the real person you know and love so well.
Getting out into the sunlight as much as possible during the day or keeping window shades open and allowing as much sunlight to come into the home/office/ workplace as possible.
Being in bright lit rooms after dark can help.
There are personal head lamps made to beam the light into the eyes.
These can be a big help in many cases.
Those who celebrate by gift giving to all the friends, family and each and every person they know from the boss to the postal carrier and pizza delivery person and/or Having a big Holiday extravaganzas as well as many functions to attend to make it a perfect Xmas It is budget busting, time consuming and nerve wracking to say the least. The commercialism of buy-buy-buy, spend-spend-spend, give-give-give the biggest the best the most the coolest has gotten people whipped into a frenzy, deep in debt, burning the candle at both ends to get everything done for a perfect Xmas. Who benefits the most from all the chaos, craziness and meanness? The money grubbing owners of all the companies who've got the products that are the HOT item of the year.
Then there are those of us who have to deal with the temporarily insane folk who dominate the stores (or phones) and the roads giving not a thought or a rude one accompanied by a not nice gesture or word to the other people who are around them.
Stress making us jumpy, cranky and just plain exhausted. As the vicious cycle continues the stress levels grow stronger and we end up taking out our frustrations on our loved ones or growing anxious and depressed falling into the endless loop of Holiday depression and jeer.
I might say another thing lately is the crap with the PC greeting! Bitching because someone says Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Joyous Tidings, Seasons Greetings, Happy Hanukkah or Blessed Yule is so wrong. If anyone voices a considerate greeting in any manner to me I say thank-you and the same to you. It seems to me if that stranger cares enough to express a kind thought in the manner they are most familiar with then a simple kindness of thank-you is required even if the word is not the same I would use at that particular time. A sneeze gets a "Bless-you" from all around and the sneezer most always says thank-you. Hmm, do we wonder why this is less offensive than
wishing someone a Happy, Joyous, Merry, Blessed whatever? When I called across the parking "Happy Holidays" to my friend as she left for her vacation I was rudely told by a total stranger "It’s Merry Christmas. Remember the reason for the season." After a 45 minute (we will call it) "discussion" with said stranger he apologized and as he left he said "Blessed Yule" to which I replied "Thank you Merry Christmas to you." We both left with smiles and he with somewhat different opinion of a PC-NOT greeting!
When we have dealt with the world of commercial craziness of phony holiday greed and demands our words have the tendency to take on the same tones with which we have been battered and our deeds begin to become less joyous, more guarded or imitating that which with we have been badgered. Before we give a word or deed of undeserved grief to a loved one or a stranger in our stressed anxious time stop and calm our selves with some of the focusing and centering grounding techniques we employ. Get that negative energy out and take in the energies we need to stay on the path of love and light through the dark days. They will be over soon and light will rule again on our earth and in our life and
hearts.
The Blessed Light of the PaganSun/XtianSon or any other spiritual path is for all and the love given with generous word and deed can and will come back in many ways.
Blessings Abound!
Victoria
