{"id":1483,"date":"2018-12-24T18:07:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T18:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wakinguprevolution.com\/?p=1483"},"modified":"2018-12-24T18:07:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T18:07:00","slug":"christmas-stillness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/christmas-stillness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Stillness (and Madness) of Christmas Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243; text_font_size=&#8221;18px&#8221; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221;]<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>This year, David Langley brought his recording gear to my home studio, so we were able to make this video for you! He is a master guitar player, so doing this was pure joy!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"fluid-width-video-wrapper\" style=\"padding-top: 56.2963%;\"><iframe id=\"fitvid0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qu3i-ORVbcI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now\u2026 We are still a few days away from Christmas. Traffic is getting worse, stress level is rising, and many people wonder, What happened to the sacred and simple ways of Emmanuel (God with us)?<\/p>\n<p>Well, nothing happened. \ud83d\ude42 God\u2019s the same as God has always been.<\/p>\n<p>All of our hustle and bustle doesn\u2019t change a thing about Christmas. It\u2019s just us &#8211; what we find in it, and how present (and mindful) we are in our daily routines, relationships, and even during the times we spend in prayer.<\/p>\n<p>I saw my therapist this week (yes, I consider therapy just as important as having my teeth cleaned every six months), and I told her how good I feel &#8211; peaceful and present. I explained how I felt I crossed from a storm (of so much going on) into the calm waters (of life).<\/p>\n<p>I told her how I\u2019ve been waking up now loving life as it is, mindful of my new routines that allow me a more time to breathe, cook healthy meals and do regular things, like order Christmas cards on time and actually send them out BEFORE January! (I never knew how good it would feel to actually have that happen! haha)<\/p>\n<p>Yes, life is still a \u2018whirlwind,\u2019 (and I still struggle to manage work, kids and finances), but what always<b>\u00a0lifts the fog and stops the madness is our willingness to pause, breathe and still ourselves even for the briefest moment.\u00a0<\/b>(In that stillness, I always remember the words: \u201cBe still and know I am God,\u201d and I feel an incredible sense of comfort, love and abundance.)<\/p>\n<p>The stillness in which we connect with God, become aware of God\u2019s presence in our lives, and choose to be more present ourselves is where we experience Emmanuel &#8211; and Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Think about it, without this awareness, and without being mindful of the present moment, we become like kites in a whirlwind &#8211; letting our life\u2019s circumstances (or the holiday season\u2019s madness) toss us to and fro. And we spend most of our energy trying to deal with what might happen or which has already hit us.<\/p>\n<p>Without our personal stillness, Christmas becomes just another occasion to consume and run through our lives fulfilling someone else\u2019s expectations while acting out a \u2018picture\u2019 of a \u2018happy holiday\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>And yea, going into that still place is not always comfortable. As we quiet down the distractions and the busyness of our lives, we become more aware of what we are feeling underneath&#8230; grief, loss, sadness, desperation, fear, anxiety, etc&#8230; But if we can just sit through the pain, knowing that we re LOVED, we will heal &#8211; and reach that place within where God fills us with love, hope and peace &#8211; just like on Christmas day.<\/p>\n<p>So\u2026 this weekend, spend some time in stillness. Listen to meditation music, pray a centering prayer (contemplative) or meditate.<\/p>\n<p>This is what works for me: close your eyes and focus on your breathing, let your thoughts simply flow through your mind &#8211; don\u2019t latch onto any of them as they drift by. Reach that still place within yourself and spend some time there.<\/p>\n<p>Then, when you are ready, think of something you are grateful for right now. See what happens!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider show_divider=&#8221;on&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_color=&#8221;rgba(0,0,0,0.1)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;connect with me&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>CONNECT WITH ME<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243; text_orientation=&#8221;center&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;|||370px&#8221;][et_social_follow icon_style=&#8221;flip&#8221; icon_shape=&#8221;rounded&#8221; icons_location=&#8221;top&#8221; col_number=&#8221;auto&#8221; outer_color=&#8221;dark&#8221;][\/et_pb_code][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][et_pb_code _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243;][inf_infusionsoft_inline optin_id=&#8221;optin_5&#8243;][\/et_pb_code][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.98&#8243; text_font_size=&#8221;18px&#8221; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221;] This year, David Langley brought his recording gear to my home studio, so we were able to make this video for you! He is a master guitar player, so doing this was pure joy! &nbsp; &nbsp; Now\u2026 We are still a few days away [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tatianacameron.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}