Reflections on holiday messages

Life's up & down events continue unabated despite the holidays.

When we receive the million and one holiday messages through mass communications, that resounds with  family and togetherness,  sometimes we believe that the dominant story-close families at the hearth sharing gifts and relishing time with one another is everyone's story. It isn't of course, but we might believe that we are the interloper, the odd one out because this story is not our story. And we might feel separate and apart, strange, oddly removed,  and that we don't belong because our experience does not mirror what almost all holiday messages convey. 

This is a time to recognize that our singular experience-regardless of circumstance, is part of the mosaic of life and holds within the experience, special gifts (though they may not be material in nature). But in order to so we must maintain our experiences are valid-despite their differentiation from  holiday telecasts. 

And we must feel a sense of connection-because we are social animals and isolation often stunts and retards our mental and emotional outlook.

As we so often come to recognize in these dark, cold days of winter,  supportive communities and friends are particularly vital and necessary, though we may be a loss of how to build and develop these networks.

Celebrating in ways that have meaning for us-whatever our circumstances, and creating family with the people we cherish and value in our lives can make all the difference in the world to our emotional and psychological landscape.

Celebrate and acknowledge your journey-it is a lesson for us all!

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