One Christmas when I was four or five years old, I had a stomach bug. I remember lying on the couch as my brother opened his presents and mine, because I didn’t have the strength to sit up and tear the paper off. That was the year I got the Barbie airplane, and instead of the reaction it merited (jumping up and down with enthusiastic joy), I think I whimpered a, “Yay, that’s cool.”
I remember being incredibly bummed that I couldn’t play with my new toys or eat cookies that day…that it felt very different, limiting, and not like the Christmases I’d enjoyed before. But I do recall being grateful deep down for my family being all together, for my cozy jammies, and for being able to give my parents a present I made—an ornament featuring my picture pasted onto felt, pasted onto the center of a tin ashtray. A masterpiece in my mind, I’m sure.
These past two years, we’ve all felt limited, experienced loss, in a world that isn’t like it was before. When we’re in it, sometimes it can be hard to see past it, to find patience to ride out the storm, the courage to ask for help, or the time to get still and see from the heart.
In the past year, I’ve intuitively connected with clients and animals who’ve taught me so much about love, compassion, and Spirit. I’ve met several people virtually in an online group whom I’ve grown to love dearly, although I’ve never met them in person. I’ve enjoyed the insanely beautiful sunset out my window night after night, in the cozy apartment we found in the middle of a pandemic.
All of those things are about connection, about the beauty in what happens every day.
I remember in Costa Rica a few years ago, I stood in a pasture with my eyes shut in front of a herd of horses and intuitively invited Cosmo’s energy to connect with mine. When I opened my eyes, Cosmo was standing in front of my face, having walked across the pasture when I “called.” But I hadn’t said his name out loud or looked at him. I remember in that moment thinking, “You mean I made this happen from something within me? All I do is come from the heart and a horse puts his beautiful face in mine?”
I was far across the field from Cosmo, but the connection was so real, he felt it and responded. We can be limited by distance, by circumstances, by the times, but we can still connect—with each other and with our wisdom and light within. With gratitude for our loved ones human and animal, with the sun that rises and sets, with the beauty of what we have before us, from Zoom gatherings to ashtray ornaments.
And we can just be. Sometimes that’s all we can do, and that’s a gift too.
♥️ This holiday season, I'm wishing all of you the presence of peace, love, and joy, from my heart to yours. ♥️