Let's face it - the "holidays" can be a wretched time of year for a lot of us. The mounting bills, the family gatherings, the expectations...I'll admit - they can be less than fun.



But Christmas doesn't need to be stressful. It all depends on how we look at it. Like the rest of life, our attitude about something leads us down the path to heaven or hell, joy or complaining. Which do you choose?

The way I see it, when Jesus walked the planet, he didn't have a plan to create a massive holiday of gift-giving...complete with stressed out gift givers. Jesus came to remind us of our eternal holiness, our pure innocence, and the love of God for each one of us.

This Holy Day season, let's remember that it is a season of peace.

This means that we can be peaceful about the season! We don't need to create anxiety about buying stuff, or whether or not we've given "enough" to our kids or family members. Even children who are used to getting a lot of presents can be re-trained to value gratitude, service to others, and simple (maybe handmade) gifts instead of the mountains of plastic they expect.

Christmas mayhem at the department store isn't simply a stress management issue. In addition to our emotional health, we need to safeguard the resources of our beautiful planet. So cutting back on Christmas consumerism is an essential environmental issue as well.

Re-training ourselves and our children is going to take some work and inner fortitude. I know we can do it - if we commit to it.

Our rewards will be better physical and emotional health, closer connections with family, really being in the spirit of celebration, putting our time and energy into helping others...this is the better world that we want to build - and what better season to begin?

Peace is our birthright. It is our very nature. We've lost track of that, and Christmas stress is a great barometer for how far we can lose ourselves in the expectations and habits of our materially addicted society. But we can divorce ourselves from the madness, and claim the simplicity of true Christ consciousness. It is within us, every moment of every day. Let's find it together.

Merry Christmas!