Tonight marks the calm before the storm of this year’s online holiday photo card reveal. Sitting before the tree, a green candle throwing its warm light over my meditation space, I begin the slow breathing that constitutes my daily meditation. A necessity for the winter months, it also comes in handy during any stresses that come up during the holiday season (of which there are often many).
Here, the noise of the day – and the noise of the season – immediately cease. Externally and internally, the world quiets. The atmosphere slows. The motion of time stills. Only the breath marks any sort of temporal movement. Even there, it feels more measured, more calm. Within ready grasp, the opportunity for meditation is a portal to peace. The importance of this presents itself more distinctly at this time of the year. How strange, this being the Prince of Peace’s time to shine and be born, that we should find calm and tranquility so elusive.
I find them in these meditations, carried out near the Christmas tree, surrounded by the sweet smell of pine, and lit by the glow of a candle.
