Gratefulness
Grace and Gratefulness
By Lyratah Barrett
We’ve moved into the dark half of the year where we begin to feel more introspective as the nights get longer and we are called to move inward. Many annual events occur, beginning with the Day of the Dead, which marks our departed ancestors, saints and martyrs, and Samhain (pronounced Saah-ween), the first day of November, celebrated by the ancient Celts as a festival marking the beginning of winter. Following the winter solstice comes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Candlemas, a holy day commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. This list isn’t meant to be inclusive but serves as a representation of societal and religious events that move through us, ushering in the end of another year. These holiday events that we acknowledge, each in its own way, are tied to a deep movement of energy within, both individually and as a collective.
These times are often masked by holiday spirit and all that it implies, pushing us to focus more outwardly than within ourselves— as we get pulled to buy, celebrate, cook, and bake unceasingly.
We can look at this many ways, but our individual perspectives are what determine our focus and experience. Offered here are six ways to make the coming holidays more focused, less stressful, and more enjoyable:
1. Set boundaries. An excess of outwardly focused events will drain and exhaust you. Feel into your solar plexus (the pit of your stomach) to determine if an engagement or event is something you should attend. Listen to your body. Do you need rest and calm, instead?
If you explore other approaches to recognizing the signals your body gives, consider muscle testing and using kinesiology for clarity in helping make decisions. Muscle testing is an alternative medicine practice that diagnoses structural, muscular, and psychological conditions by testing the strength of your muscles. PKTT (Perelandra Kinesiology Testing Technique) is used to directly access the body’s electric system to assess the condition of circuits, and the strength or weakness of our muscles. You can explore this subject more via this link: https://www.perelandra-ltd.com/PKTT-Self-Testing-Steps-W75.aspx.
Additionally, you can also learn about PKTT on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQXVT-HvKNg.
- Allot time for yourself. Experience the time you spend with your family and friends as opportunities for service to others, a time where you can bring love and bright energy into the lives of others. This can make a vast difference for others, whether we know it or not. Recognize you are a change agent for the Divine to work through. Being with others is an opportunity to bond, share, listen… and to enjoy the moments you have together with family and friends.The time we all have is fleeting, so give of yourself consciously to others. Enjoy the laughter, the friendship, the brother and sisterhood. Do what you can with what you have and use intention through an in-vocative focus to help others. That intention will shift the energy around you significantly.
3. Don’t sweat the small stuff. A good friend of mine often says, “you have to determine what hill do you want to die on.” In a less dramatic way, this means to stop and consider what you take on— and what you let pass. Some would even say… you have to choose your battles carefully.
Misunderstandings are always a testing ground for growth, and we have a choice in how we handle conflicts. Don Miguel Ruiz, in his highly acclaimed best-selling book, The Four Agreements, gives us a code of conduct as the path to happiness, based on the ancient wisdoms of the Toltec tradition. (The Toltecs were a civilization that lived in Southern Mexico around 900 AD.) These four agreements can help us navigate through life, relationships, and conflicts— and points us to keep our behavior ‘in check’ through the eyes of our own observer.
Agreement 1: Be impeccable with your word
Agreement 2: Don’t take anything personally
Agreement 3: Don’t make assumptions
Agreement 4: Always do your best
4. Give thanks. Be thankful for the all your precious moments on this planet, where you can grow, evolve, and master your energy, your life, and your human experience. Seek to find grace within all things.
5. Meditate and contemplate. This will charge your inner battery, enabling you to nourish yourself and others. This is also where you will find your balance… when it is needed.
Grace and gratefulness are two principles of divinity available to us all to understand and use. We’ve heard so much of gratefulness, thanks to Lady O and others, but we’ve heard less about grace. With that thought, I leave you something to contemplate on the principle of grace— that there is no state or condition too low that the Divine cannot live in. Thus, humanity can feel and know grace, and through its recognition, we evolve.
Blessings to you as we enter the darkness of inner silence, ushered in by autumn and followed by winter. See through the hustle and clamor… and lead yourself inward to embrace the stillness. There lies the deep well within, full of rich ground for renewal.
Lyratah Barrett, IFGT, Let’s Talk Change, podcast co-host, is a teacher, lecturer, counselor, and a budding author. She is also CEO/Director of The New Seed Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the soul awakening of humanity.
