Tis the season, they say, for good will and peace on earth.
Though it doesn’t always appear those
How do you remain conscious? At the holiday dinner, maybe a
family member says something that sets the hair on the back of your neck to
prickling. Maybe a friend forgets an important date. Maybe, just maybe, things
don’t go the way you’d hoped and your holiday doesn’t look Norman Rockwell
perfect, not even close. Your family members and friends begin, in your
estimation, to resemble Jacob Marley or the Abominable Snow Monster. When those
touchy, ticklish moments show up and you’re tempted to react to someone in a
not-so jolly way, recognize the source of your discomfort which is usually very
old, unresolved hurts from your childhood.
The source of your prickling, your sudden Grinchy mood, is
most often a sensitive spot that settled into place in your psyche a very long
time ago. Perhaps your cousin has just pushed your hot button asking you to
lower your voice and that makes you feel embarrassed. Your embarrassment
originated when a clumsy parent yelled at you for your three-year-old exuberant
loudness in a restaurant. You were just being like most three-year-old children,
innocent and joyful mirth cut short by an embarrassed adult. Here in the
present you overreact and are suddenly spitting out venom toward your cousin.
Not the warm, fuzzy atmosphere you hoped to feel at the end of your sleigh ride
to Grandma’s house.
There is another way to handle it. Recognize the feeling
when it comes up. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that your cousin
probably had good reason for her request – the baby is sleeping, she has a
headache, she is rattled and can’t focus when too many people are talking at
once. Whatever the reason, you can maintain your inner peace by becoming aware
of the things that upset you. Here are a couple of examples of UN-conscious scenes
from my long-ago holidays…
Once upon a time I traveled seven hours with my, then,
husband to visit family in Buffalo, NY for a week between each Christmas and
New Year’s. From the time we married we always left the day after Christmas reserving Christmas Day for
our own exchange of gifts and a relaxing afternoon before the tiring drive. Our
tenth year together we broke tradition last minute and surprised our families
by calling to say we had decided to drive up on Christmas Eve. We arrived at my
mother’s house after midnight, flopped into bed, and visions of sugar plums dissolved
quickly into blissful sleep.
The plan had been laid out over the phone the day before:
Christmas morning and lunch at my mom’s. Christmas late afternoon and dinner at
his parents. Bright and early Christmas morning, my mother was already pushing the
start of “lunch” into the latter hours and speaking as though we would be there
all day. When I reiterated the plan she turned on the guilt and soon tears were
flying around her living room. She tried to manipulate with suggestions that I
stay and he go on to his parent’s house without me.
“Mom, I’m married now. I need to divide my time. We’re here
for a week and we’ll see each other a lot,” I soothed.
“BUT IT’S CHRISTMAS!” she whined, wiping away the flood
gushing from her wide-open ducts.
“Mom, the WHOLE WEEK is Christmas!” I pleaded, “Until
yesterday you weren’t expecting us until tomorrow.” Things degenerated from
there faster than Dasher racing Dancer across the Milky Way. Before you know it,
we were opening gifts with red eyes, fake smiles, and an atmosphere far from holly jolly. It all could have been avoided if my mother had been able to
pull herself out of her emotional stupor. In her mind I’m sure she dreamed of
the postcard holiday she never had as a child, but I couldn’t fill that void or
change her past. The gaping hole of her want was so huge that it negated logic
and any sense of how her tantrum affected me and my husband. There was no room,
in the midst of her troubled need, to think how his family would feel if I
neglected them or to consider that I wanted
to be with my husband’s family too. It wasn’t enough that we had divided the day
into equal halves down to the minute in hopes that she would enjoy the time we did
have with peace and grace. It wasn’t enough for her to know I’d be back to
sleep there and eat breakfast there and have several excursions with her and my
stepfather during the week. She’d gone into an emotional trance and our holiday
time was tense for the rest of our stay.
On another occasion I poured out my heart in a letter to my
hometown girlfriend. The trips back home were exhausting I said, not only from the
long drive, but everyone we knew planned lunches and dinners and gift exchanges
and activities that my husband and I wanted to attend. Every day we ran from
activity to activity with no time to just relax and chill out on our “vacation.”
I shared in my letter that for several years I tried to keep
up the pace. I had usually set aside an afternoon or two to do something with
this girlfriend, just the two of us, and consequently added to my hectic schedule, but also missed time with other
people I loved. I wrote my letter with a loving plea for understanding that
something had to change so I could enjoy my time in Buffalo instead of dreading
all the running around. I said how much I wanted to see her and how much I
valued our friendship. I asked if she would consider coming to the place where
we were staying, at either my mom’s or his parent’s. She could visit and stay as long as
she wanted. Other people might be there too and we could steal some time in a
quiet room if she wanted to. This would save me the strain of trying to
coordinate with my husband’s schedule to see who needed the car when, and it allowed
me to stay in one place to catch my breath. My mother even agreed to attend a
few meals at my in-laws during the visits when it was their turn to host us.
My girlfriend flat-out refused the compromise. “I miss you.
I want you all to myself.” If our time together couldn’t be us alone at her
place, then it wouldn’t happen. Then she too tried to manipulate, her voice
colored with gloom, “Well, maybe you can come to my family party this summer.”
So, in reality it wasn’t that she wanted me there with no other people around,
but rather that she wanted things her way to ease some long ago emptiness. I
knew the family history: her siblings were favored over her. I had given her my
undivided attention for many years and she didn’t want to give that up. Again,
I could no longer fill that void and stay sane. In spite of my sincere
explanation of how torn in pieces I felt having to divide myself among so many
loved ones, she wanted things to be the way they once were. It became more
about the picture in her mind of how she envisioned us together and much less
about the fact that we could still see each other on slightly different terms. I
could no longer trust that she cared about my physical and mental well-being.
My mother and my friend could not access enough
consciousness to realize we had a wonderful opportunity to celebrate together albeit
in a different form. Instead emotions got in the way and what could have been a
chance to make more beautiful memories together turned into a hurtful stain on
our history. Though my mom was my mom and we managed to limp through our
trials, my husband and I never risked Christmas Day in Buffalo again. My friend
and I drifted apart. If she couldn’t have me the way she wanted me, she wouldn’t
have me at all and a twenty-year relationship turned to dust, a very sad and unnecessary
ending.
This holiday and anytime for that matter, when you feel that
certain annoyance that sometimes comes with relationships, please take a deep
breath, step back, and hold your reaction in check. When you can be alone see
if you can trace the annoyed feelings to an earlier time where you felt abandoned,
humiliated, ignored, unloved, or any other negative feeling. Chances are you
have felt those feelings again and again throughout your life depending on who you
feel annoyed with at the moment.
Now realize that most people don’t stay up nights thinking
of ways to hurt you. Your friends and family may have really good reasons for
doing and saying what they do and say. Also, you have no idea how someone may
be struggling inside and most are doing the best they can. Maybe they are in
their own trance of unconsciousness. Whatever is going on is not worth ruining
a relationship over at holiday time or ever. Always keep in mind that the
person you love and are tempted to aim your anger at could be at any moment swept
from this life forever. If you can genuinely identify that the person is
deliberately choosing to say hurtful things or disrespect you, then, by all
means, ask to speak to them about it in private when you are both calm and in a
mindset where you can really hear what the other is saying. Remember that
hearts are tender. Speak with love and not with intention to manipulate, seek
revenge, or punish.
From the bottom of my heart I wish you the gifts of conscious
living; love without unreasonable conditions, charitable conversations, open-minded
compromise, lots of hugs, smiles, and all the warmth that gathering with family
and friends can bring this holiday season and the whole year through.
Much Love,
Robin
(Photo by Pixabay)
(Photo by Pixabay)
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