If you had only one hour to live, what would you do? Would you not arrange what is necessary outwardly, your affairs, your will, and so on?

Would you not call your family and friends together and ask their forgiveness for the harm that you might have done to them, and forgive them for whatever harm they might have done to you?

Would you not die completely to the things of the mind, to desires and to the world?

And if it can be done for an hour, then it can also be done for the days and years that may remain. Try it and you will find out.

- J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

 

 

Let’s face it.

The holidays either bring us joy and excitement or total anxiety and stress.

Either way, our practice of mindfulness around taking care of  ourselves often moves to the wayside, succumbing to societal influences: What society tells us we should feel ok about buying, what we should feel ok about eating, and who we should should feel happy to be spending our holidays with.

 

Whether its a love of, or a spite of, the holiday season is one in which many still struggle with choices around finances, food, and sadly, family.  The season that is supposed to be about bringing us together ends up being the season that can bring up our deepest issues of grief around separation and conflict.
Can this be resolved?  Could this year and all those following really be different?

 

Perhaps this is the dual teaching of the holiday season.  A time when all people in the world, regardless of their community and culture, in some ways, beneath the joy, are asked to face deeper unresolved issues.

 

J. Krishnamurti’s quote above, challenges us to consider what action we would take and how our perspective would shift if we had just one hour left to live.  And he proposes, if we could do it in one hour, why not do it now, and keep it that way for the rest of our years?  Such a simple concept, yet for most of us it is still a concept.  In reality, we make choices to hold on to anger, sadness…. the past… until the day we die.  This only creates suffering during the days in which we live.

 

Whether or not you have a yoga or meditation practice, this holiday season, make this your practice of mindfulness: Notice what the season brings to the forefront in your life, whether its around family, finances, food,  or anything that you would like to make different this time around.  Embrace any discomfort that is brought up; discomfort is a good sign that there’s something ‘there’.  Instead of pushing up against it or trying to avoid it, see it as an opportunity to grow and to make a positive shift.