Tag: Gratitude

My first Spell and Ritual



I am moving along with my Novice lessons and I wrote my first spell and Ritual and I must say I have never been so excited.

I am a published author and when I sat down to write my spell and ritual I thought “Oh gosh this will probably be hard.” But I sat down with confidence and wrote them both within an hour. It was amazing.

I want to say that I love this coven and everybody in it. Lady B is amazing and always there for me and Priestess Hypatia is also amazing. I just want thank the Coven for being there for me.

This is my path. I feel so connected now and its bring the best out of me. So thank you Coven Life and Witches of the Craft for allowing me to be me.

Blessed be,

Melinda



Daily Motivator for February 19th – See it as a blessing

See it as a blessing

Whatever it is, see it as a blessing. With many things that’s very difficult,  yet with everything it is extremely valuable.

When you can see it as a blessing, you can also see the positive  possibilities. When you choose to see it as a blessing, you connect yourself to  the power of abundance.

Whatever you see as a blessing brings you new ways to create value. You begin  to solve the problem, to heal the pain and to transcend the challenge.

That’s a whole lot more positive and powerful than feeling sorry for  yourself. It’s a whole lot smarter than ruining your day with anger and  resentment.

You are extremely fortunate to be exactly where you are. Open yourself up to  see that good fortune and you’ll find ways to make great, fulfilling use of it. 

Accept and embrace the blessings that come your way, whatever form they may  take. The more thankful and positive you are, the more those blessings will  benefit your whole world.

— Ralph Marston

The Daily Motivator

Enhanced by Zemanta

BE THANKFUL

Celtic Comments & Graphics

BE THANKFUL

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something,

For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,

Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,

Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary,

Because it means you’ve made an effort.

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.

A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Food Blessings, Pagan and Wiccan Style

Food Blessings, Pagan and Wiccan Style

By , About.com

Christianity doesn’t have a monopoly on saying a prayer over food and drink. Many religions celebrate the consumption of food with some sort of prayer of thanksgiving. Many Pagans and Wiccans believe that not only should we thank the gods for our food, but also the earth and the food itself. After all, if you’re eating plants or meat, something had to die so that you could have a meal. It seems rude not to thank your food for its sacrifice.

Any of the following may be said over a meal, a Cakes and Ale ceremony, or any other event where food is served. Feel free to include the names of the deities of your tradition, of you prefer.

  • This Simple Meal Blessing offers thanks to the God and Goddess for a meal.
  • A Prayer to the Earth shows gratitude for the planet’s bounty.
  • If you’re eating a meal that once walked around, offer a prayer Celebrating Meal.
  • Invite the Gods to dine with you.
  • Make an Offering of a bit of your food.
Enhanced by Zemanta

WOW! It’s A New Year. May You Be Blessed With Love, Comfort & Prosperity In The New Year!

In the New Year,
we wish you the best year you’ve ever had,
and that each New Year
will be better than the last.
May you realize your fondest dreams
and take time to recognize and enjoy
each and every blessing.

Happy New Year,
And many more!

Source:
 “In the New Year”
By Joanna Fuchs
Poemsource.com
 

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for December 30

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Henry David Thoreau, whose cry was “Simplify! Simplify!” went to great measures to prove to himself, and perhaps to society, that life could be lived in the most simple manner and at the least expense. With only a few dollars he managed to provide for himself the things of absolute necessity for quite a long period of time.

Not many of us would care to exist on the absolute necessities. We have become too much accustomed to easier living. Things that were once thought of as luxuries are now considered necessities. And yet, with all of this, life is anything but simple. We seem to have the ability to complicate the best laid plans and find ourselves shadow boxing.

Like many of the trite old adages, “Life is what we make it,” is so true. By our own minds we accept or reject, by ignoring or by searching out the causes of shadows and removing the cause. It is whatever we elect to do about our individual lives that makes the difference. But we shall make great strides when we recognize the supreme excellence in all things of simplicity.

We don’t need to worry about doing without the necessary things in life – if we have a grateful heart. A grateful heart is not just remembering to write a few words to someone who has done a kindness, or saying thank you graciously and at the right moment. A grateful heart is the feeling of great blessings which precedes that thank you note and that verbal expression.

A grateful heart is one that always knows the fullness of that rich feeling of first being grateful without cause. And then, all other gratitude and its expression comes naturally.

Perhaps true gratitude is a grateful though toward heaven that I should be chosen to fill this spot, do this work, and have been given the strength to do it.

It was Romaine, the English theologian, who said, “Gratitude to God makes even a temporal blessing a taste of heaven.” We can have so much more heaven with a grateful heart.

________________________

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

Wishing You All A Very Happy & Blessed Wednesday!

I promise I will try to make this as quick as possible. But you know me when I get started talking, I don’t have sense enough to quit, lol! Anybody else had said that I would have been pissed! I am in a good mood believe it or not. I just wanted to take a moment tell everyone of you who purchased Raffle tickets, Thank you! I can never say it enough and I know I should, Thank you all and I truly do love you with all my heart. Maybe it’s that time of the year, when a witch stops to think about all the good things in her life. That she normally takes for granted. I know I am truly thankful for everyone of you and I consider you all my family. Don’t ever forget that, my luvs!

I know you are wondering what put me in this mood. Thanks to everyone of you, our domain payment to WordPress went through without a hitch. The domain is paid in full for another year. Thank you so much for saving our home. When I say ours, I mean yours too. No matter where the WOTC has called home, whether it was just starting out on MSN till now, the WOTC is your home. I am just the simple caretaker. I want you to always feel that way about this spot on the net. Without you, the WOTC would not exist. But back to business, I wasn’t too happy with WordPress at all yesterday. The domain bill was due December 2nd. If they had held up to that, we would have had no problem paying it. I was going to pay it myself. But they didn’t and I will tell you it made me very angry. Especially when they threw up that block, that galled my rump to no end. The only thing I knew to do was pay it through our PayPal account (at the time I didn’t know everything in my purse had been stolen, that another tale though). But they say hindsight is 20 – 20, if I knew WordPress was going to do that, I would have been looking for us a new home. I have bragged on them and bragged on them. And to be treated like that, I don’t know how to describe it. So I think between now and next year’s payment comes due, we might be finding a new home. Just a maybe, I wouldn’t want to lose any of you. That has always been my experience, every time we have moved in the pass, we have loss hundreds of friends and family.

I told you I was going to make this brief. But it’s not entirely my fault for taking so long, I have been on the phone.  I just wanted to thank you again and let you know that we are now safe for another year. Thanks to you!

Now down to business……

Luv & Hugs,

Lady A

The Daily OM for Nov. 26th – Beyond Counting Blessings

Beyond Counting Blessings
Being Truly Thankful

by Madisyn Taylor

Our gratitude deepens when we begin to be thankful for being alive during this time and living the life we are living.

Often when we practice being thankful, we go through the process of counting our blessings, acknowledging the wonderful people, things and places that make up our reality. While it is fine to be grateful for the good fortune we have accumulated, true thankfulness stems from a powerful comprehension of the gift of simply being alive, and when we feel it, we feel it regardless of our circumstances. In this deep state of gratitude, we recognize the purity of the experience of being, in and of itself, and our thankfulness is part and parcel of our awareness that we are one with this great mystery that is life.

It is difficult for most of us to access this level of consciousness as we are very caught up in the ups and downs of our individual experiences in the world. The thing to remember about the world, though, is that it ebbs and flows, expands and contracts, gives and takes, and is by its very nature somewhat unreliable. If we only feel gratitude when it serves our desires, this is not true thankfulness. No one is exempt from the twists and turns of fate, which may, at any time, take the possessions, situations, and people we love away from us. Ironically, it is sometimes this kind of loss that awakens us to a thankfulness that goes deeper than just being grateful when things go our way. Illness and near-miss accidents can also serve as wake-up calls to the deeper realization that we are truly lucky to be alive.

We do not have to wait to be shaken to experience this state of being truly thankful for our lives. Tuning in to our breath and making an effort to be fully present for a set period of time each day can do wonders for our ability to connect with true gratitude. We can also awaken ourselves with the intention to be more aware of the unconditional generosity of the life force that flows through us regardless of our circumstances.

The Daily OM

Let’s Talk Witch – Simple, “Just Be Thankful”

hecate4

Let’s Talk Witch – Simple, “Just Be Thankful”

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don’t know something,
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
Because it will build your strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you’re tired and weary,
Because it means you’ve made an effort.
It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the
setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.

A Belated Happy & Honored Veterans Day To All Our Dear Brothers & Sisters!


I can never begin to apologize enough for not honoring all of our proud Veterans yesterday, on their day. We did not forget you, how could we? If it wasn’t for all those who have sacrificed so much in the past and the present, we would not have the freedoms we do today. Thank you for all you have done for your country. We love you and we wish you a very Happy & Honored Veterans’ Day!

I feel extremely bad about this but we did have an emergency so we were not on the internet yesterday. Of all days, Veterans Days, I am so, so, very sorry. I beg your forgiveness and to the best of my ability and control, nothing like this will ever happen again.

Yesterday, our plumbing did not realize it was Veterans’ Day. We have one of our toilet blow a gasket. Oh brother, did it ever. I spent yesterday with my head stuck in the back of the toilet, in the bowl of the toilet, truthfully I don’t believe there was a place on that toilet I wasn’t at. I got all the parts replaced and have had to let it stand for 24 hours then we will see if it leaks. If it does, does anyone have any dynamite I can have? I was not cut out to be a plumber but I can say one thing, I did not have a plumber crack, lol! Mystie made sure of that. Every time my shorts started to slide down, she would try to pull them up. First time, she stuck her hands in my shorts and pulled them up. You can imagine my reaction, “What the hell do you think you are doing? Get your hands off my a**!” She does not make a good plumber’s helper at all. Now me on the other hand, you ever need a witch who knows her way around pipes and plumbing, just give me a call, lol!

Again, I am apologize to all of our Brothers & Sisters in the Craft and outside the Craft who have served our country so bravely. You have sacrificed so much I think every day of the year we should honor you and never ever take you for granted. You have gave so much of yourself and given us so much. Thank you and we will never forget you.

Goddess Bless Our Veterans and the Men & Women of All Our Armed Forces!

Lady Of The Abyss & The WOTC

Daily Motivator for November 1st – Get life going your way

Get life going your way

Don’t wait for life to go your way. Get your own thoughts and actions going  your way and the other things in life will reliably follow along.

Step forward and take a positive, active role in creating your own future.  Instead of worrying about what might or might not happen, work to make what does  happen the best you can imagine.

With every moment and every choice, you have an influence on the way your  life unfolds. Instead of being a victim of circumstance, find ways to utilize  each circumstance for meaningful, positive purposes.

Though you cannot control every influence in your life, you absolutely can  control what you make of those various influences. Make the choice, again and  again, to make the best of them.

Take what comes, whatever it may be, with gratitude and positive  expectations. Do what you must to make something good out of it.

There is always a way forward, so take it. There is always something useful,  valuable and positive you can do, so do it, and get life going your way.

— Ralph Marston

The Daily Motivator

A Lovely Little Present I Would Like To Share With All

A Prayer of Thankfulness

For today, I am grateful
For tomorrow, I am hopeful
For my life, I am blessed
I thank my ancestors for their labors and survival
I thank my contemporaries for their companionship
I thank my descendants for carrying me with them

For today . . . I do my best in all things

For tomorrow . . . I honor and heal the environment

For my life . . . I work to be a healthy cell in the body of the Universe

I honor the journey of my life with conscious living
and honor the lives of all I meet and those I will never know.

Copyright Abby Willowroot 2007

Spiral Goddess Grove

More Christmas Presents Comments

WOTC Spell of the Day for Nov. 21 – Group Table Blessing

Group Table Blessing

Items Needed:

None

Instructions:

To bless the food at a table, have each person in the dinner party say a part of this blessing to the bounty embodied in the God and Goddess union.

“All fruits of the Earth

Are fruits of your union.

Your womb, your dance,

Lady and Lord.

Come, join with us,

Feast with us,

Enjoy with us!”

 

By Therese Francis

Giving Thanks to the Goddess

Giving Thanks to the Goddess

 

When I ponder what you have done for me, in me, and what you are doing and will; I could thank you continuously and eternally but the words would fall so insignificantly off the edge of space – for they do not even begin to
describe the bliss you bring with even your slightest of blessings – truly the slightest thought of you.

“I Love You” is the reflex that pours forth from my lips whenever you draw my attention – truly when I give you my thanks, for my love for you envelops
my gratitude – but even in this the language is less than a shadow, as
insignificant as three grains of sand to the bottom of the ocean compared to
the depth, fullness, and power of my absolute devotion, dedication,
affection, and awe for you; and I am ever grateful that you, my magnificent
All, have shown me how to express it to you in ways that language cannot.

For I am consumed with you, M’Lady. My every thought of you brings me great joy, more than most can fathom; and your bliss grows sweeter every day. I am ecstatic as I sit in your presence, bask in your beauty, your glory and love – ever dazzled by the mere thought that one could find himself in the
presence of such a splendid Goddess as you, that you could even exist in
such splendor, and that you would be my Goddess and shower such favor upon me.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for it all. Every moment, every smile,
every blessing, every lesson, every meet, and your every touch is the very
essence of love to me. You are my heart and soul. May my life, now and
forevermore, be a delight to you.

Mabon Balance Meditation

Mabon Balance Meditation

Celebrating the Dark and the Light

Mabon is a time of balance, and this simple meditation will help you focus on bringing harmony to your life.

A Time of Positive and Negative Energy

Mabon is one of those times of year that affect people in different ways. For some, it’s a season to honor the darker aspects of the goddess, calling upon that which is devoid of light. For others, it’s a time of thankfulness, of gratitude for the abundance we have at the season of harvest. No matter how you see it, Mabon is traditionally a time of balance. After all, it’s one of the two times each year that has equal amounts of darkness and daytime.

Because this is, for many people, a time of high energy, there is sometimes a feeling of restlessness in the air, a sense that something is just a bit “off”. If you’re feeling a bit spiritually lopsided, with this simple meditation you can restore a little balance into your life.

Setting the Mood

Now that fall is here, why not do an autumn version of Spring Cleaning? Get rid of any emotional baggage you’re dragging around with you. Accept that there are darker aspects to life, and embrace them, but don’t let them rule you. Understand that a healthy life finds balance in all things.

You can perform this ritual anywhere, but the best place to do it is outside, in the evening as the sun goes down. Decorate your altar (or if you’re outside, use a flat stone or tree stump) with colorful autumn leaves, acorns, small pumpkins, and other symbols of the season. You’ll need a black candle and a white one of any size, although tealights probably work best. Make sure you have something safe to put them in, either a candle holder or a bowl of sand.

Light both candles, and say the following:

A balance of night and day, a balance of light and dark Tonight I seek balance in my life as it is found in the Universe. A black candle for darkness and pain and things I can eliminate from my life. A white candle for the light, and for joy and all the abundance I wish to bring forth. At Mabon, the time of the equinox, there is harmony and balance in the Universe, and so there shall be in my life.

Meditate on the things you wish to change. Focus on eliminating the bad, and strengthening the good around you. Put toxic relationships into the past, where they belong, and welcome new positive relationships into your life. Let your baggage go, and take heart in knowing that for every dark night of the soul, there will be a sunrise the next morning.

How to Hold a Gratitude Ritual

How to Hold a Gratitude Ritual

By Patti Wigington

Do a Gratitude Ritual to express your thankfulness.

For many Wiccans and Pagans, autumn is a time of thanks giving. Although this is the most obvious around the Mabon holiday, if you live in the United States, most of your friends and family will be giving thanks in November. If you’d like to tie in to that a little, but with a Pagan flair, you might want to consider doing a short gratitude ritual as a way of expressing your own thankfulness.

Here’s How:

  1. Before you begin, decorate your altar with symbols of the season. You may want to choose items that represent abundance, such as:
    • Baskets of fruit, such as apples or grapes
    • Cornucopias
    • An abundance mandala
    • Colors associated with abundance, such as gold and green
    • Symbols of things you’re thankful for, such as your health or your career
    • Photos of your family and friends who mean a lot to you

    You’ll also want to have a candle on your altar. Gold or green is preferable, but you can use another color if it signifies abundance to you. Also, make a batch of Gratitude Oil ahead of time to use in the ritual.

  2. If your tradition calls for you to cast a circle, go ahead and do so.

    As you begin, take a moment to reflect on the abundance in your life. When we say abundance, it doesn’t necessarily mean material or financial gain — you may be abundant if you have friends who love you, a satisfying family life, or a rewarding career. Think about that things you have for which you are most grateful. These are the things you will be focusing on in this rite. As you’re thinking about these things, anoint the candle with the Gratitude Oil, and then light it on your altar table or workspace.

  3. If you have a particular deity in your tradition who is associated with thankfulness, you may wish to call out to this god or goddess and invite them into your circle. If not, that’s okay too — you can express your gratitude to the universe itself.
  4. Beginning at one corner of the table, begin saying the things you are thankful for, and why. It might go something like this:

    I am thankful for my health, because it allows me to feel well. I am thankful for my children, for keeping me young. I am thankful for my career, because each day I get paid to do what I love. I am thankful for my job, because I am able to feed my family. I am thankful for my garden, because it provides me fresh herbs. I am thankful for my coven sisters, because they make me feel spiritually complete…

    and so forth, until you have expressed your thankfulness for everything in your life.

  5. If you’re doing this ritual with a group, each person should anoint a candle of their own, and call out their own things that they are thankful for.

    Take a few more minutes to meditate on the candle flame, and to focus on the notion of abundance. While you’re thinking about things you are grateful for, you might also wish to consider the people in your life that are grateful towards you, for the things you have done. Recognize that gratitude is a gift that keeps on giving, and that counting one’s blessings is an important thing to do, because it reminds us of how truly fortunate we are.

  6. Note: It’s important to realize that one of the things about being thankful is that we should let people who have made us happy know they’ve done so. If there’s someone specific you wish to thank for their words or actions, you should take the time to tell them so directly, instead of (or in addition to) merely doing a ritual that they’ll never know about. Send a note, make a phone call, or tell them in person how much you appreciate what they’ve done for you.

What You Need

  • Symbols of what you’re thankful for
  • A candle
  • Gratitude Oil

Daily OM for June 18 – Acceptance as Giving

Allowing Ourselves to Receive

by

Madisyn Taylor

 

By allowing ourselves to receive we are given the gift of seeing through another person’s eyes.

 

Giving and receiving are part of the same cycle, and we each give and receive in our own ways. But we can lose our balance when we try to be too controlling on either side of the cycle. On the receiving end, we may feel that we don’t deserve the effort made if what we gave was easy for us to give. But perhaps there is a different lesson there for us. We may be receiving not only gratitude, but a chance to see the world through the eyes of another. We may be learning that just because we gave easily, it doesn’t diminish its value. Or perhaps the universe is giving us an example to hold close to our hearts, to encourage us on some future day when our own generous act of giving is not met with a visible act of receiving. When we can allow ourselves to receive as well as give, we do our part to keep the channels of abundance open for ourselves and others.

Sometimes we may find ourselves struggling to respond to others’ gifts in the same ways—like responding to an expensive present with something equally expensive, or feeling like we have to throw a dinner party for someone who has thrown one for us. But when these are done out of a sense of obligation, their energy changes from something that shares to something that drains. If this sounds familiar, we can decide next time to allow ourselves to receive with arms, minds and hearts open and simply say thank you.

Accepting a person’s gift is a gift in itself. Sincere appreciation for their acknowledgement and their effort joins our energy with theirs in the cycle of giving and receiving, and nurtures all involved. If ever we find we are still having difficulty, we can decide to allow ourselves to be conduits for gratitude and accept on behalf of a loving, giving universe.

 

DailyOM 

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for May 6th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Henry David Thoreau, whose cry was “Simplify! Simplify!” went to great measures to prove to himself, and perhaps to society, that life could be lived in the most simple manner and at the least expense. With only a few dollars he managed to provide for himself the things of absolute necessity for quite a long period of time.

Not many of us would care to exist on the absolute necessities. We have become too much accustomed to easier living. Things that were once thought of as luxuries are now considered necessities. And yet, with all of this, life is anything but simple. We seem to have the ability to complicate the best laid plans and find ourselves shadow boxing.

Like many of the trite old adages, “Life is what we make it,” is so true. By our own minds we accept of reject, by ignoring or by searching out the causes of shadows and removing the cause. It is whatever we elect to do about our individual lives that makes the difference. But we shall make great strides when we recognize the supreme excellence in all things of simplicity.

We don’t need to worry about doing without the necessary things in life – if we have a grateful heart. A grateful heart is not just remembering to write a few words to someone who has done a kindness, or saying thank you graciously and at the right moment. A grateful heart is the feeling of great blessing which precedes that thank you note and that verbal expression.

A grateful heart is one that always known the fullness of that rich feeling of first being grateful without cause. And then, all other gratitude and its expression comes naturally.

Perhaps true gratitude is a grateful thoughts toward heaven that I should be chosen to fill this spot, do this work, and have been given the strength to do it.

It was Romaine, the English theologian, who said, “Gratitude to God makes even a tempered blessing a taste of heaven.” We can have so much more heaven with a grateful heart.

*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*

Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

Daily Motivator for April 18th – Gratitude in action

Gratitude in action

Gratitude is more than saying thank you. The real power of gratitude comes from making meaningful and valuable use of those things for which you are thankful.

It’s nice to be appreciative. It’s even better to put that appreciation into action by being creative and productive.

Life is overwhelmingly abundant. The way to enjoy and benefit from that abundance is by putting it to purposeful use.

In this place, in this moment, you are a vital steward of life’s great abundance. You have the opportunity, and the responsibility, of transforming that abundance into unique value.

Whatever may be going on in your world, be truly thankful for it. And then put that gratitude into action by making a positive difference.

Life’s goodness is not meant to be hidden away and hoarded. Life’s goodness is best used for making even more.

— Ralph Marston

The Daily Motivator

Creating Healing Traditions

Creating Healing Traditions

  • Wendy Strgar

“Of one thing I am certain, the body is not the measure of healing – peace is the measure.” ~George Melton

As a child I dreaded the holidays. Weeks of uninterrupted solid family dysfunction were made unbearable by what seemed like everyone else having the best time of the year. I remember one year buying a tiny plastic tree and decorating it with cheap lights and tinsel so I could have some holiday spirit, too. I got sick a lot during those vacations and, sitting feverish in front of the holiday film reruns and advertising, only made me feel worse. I know from being married to a doctor for the last three decades that the holidays are a peak time for illness and emotional breakdowns.

Everyone is carrying around a sack full of something, and for many, it is an emptiness that only seems to get heavier through the years. It is easy to believe that with all the media messages around that we can purchase the fullness we all want to feel. It only took a couple of years of gorging on stuff to realize that stuff never satisfied anyone. Instead, over the years I created our holiday traditions around healing rituals that not only helped me to heal my own past, but have also given my kids a chance to make their own meaning in this time.

We had a lot to work with as our mixed religious backgrounds gave us many holiday choices to reinvent. The Hanukkah ritual is a favorite and it can be adapted to any other holiday or even just used at winter solstice. A celebration of light, for us it became a celebration of recognizing the light of gratitude and wonder in our own lives. Each night we take turns lighting candles and sharing the light of all the many things we have to be grateful for. My children have been profound teachers in this ritual, each with remarkable insights into the beauty and wonder of the world.

Training one’s mind in gratitude is perhaps one’s most worthy pursuit and guaranteed to heal one’s holiday emptiness. In fact, there is no other single human emotional quality that has the power to completely reinvent how you perceive your life and open a door to contentment and abundance. Many of the oldest secret societies in the world have gratitude built into their foundational belief systems. It takes practice if you are not accustomed, but gratitude is how happiness feels when it is imbued with wonder.

The most meaningful gifts at this time of year can’t be bought or even given; they are the transformation that happens in us when we are open to receiving. As a chronic giver, this ability to receive is a fledgling chick just learning to fly in me, but I now understand that letting go of how I think things should be and listening deeply to what is right in front of me is almost always a gift that I would have entirely missed in the past. When we get stuck on how life’s offerings (and you can expand that to include people and stuff) don’t match our expectations, we literally turn away from the love and pleasure that is ours. I see it happen every day; we refuse to be loved when it doesn’t look the way we want it to. Celebrate life this holiday season by allowing and receiving life’s gifts in front of you. Practice releasing your thoughts and preconceived ideas when you open a gift and listen for what might be deeply hidden in the gift in front of you.

All of this healing might make you bold enough to attempt the deepest giving of all- Forgiving. This is when we accept that we won’t get a better past and when we finally understand that the only one being harmed by the grudges we hold are ourselves. Forgiveness, in many ways, is the ultimate act of receiving. You finally free yourself from carrying around the baggage of emptiness filled with justifiable injury and disrespect that might never get proper acknowledgement. Forgiveness is a chance to see beyond what we have always known and create room to get a glimpse of a universe still unknown to us. In these moments, we can drop the stories that have defined our holiday memories for so long.

It is a bold step, creating rituals to heal the holidays; you will be astonished at how it transforms the New Year.