We have just entered the Holiday Season. Thanksgiving—Christmas—New Year's. It’s a really packed time of year. It is easy to get lost in the details, but we each ought to do our best to remember what it is we are acknowledging and celebrating.
Thanksgiving: Gratitude has actually been shown to boost your immune system! The Mayo Clinic has an article about the benefits of gratitude here. We each have things in the world around us (and in ourselves, BTW!) that we need to correct or change. So it becomes all too easy to focus on what needs attention. That focus can crowd out our ability to notice and appreciate all the things that are going right that we can be grateful for. In my work of turning around failing businesses, it is tempting to see nothing but problems to be overcome. I have had to work hard not to get caught in that trap. Not a bad policy for life in general, not just business or other things that need to be fixed.
Christmas: The birth of Christ is not about an external event but what needs to be reborn in our own hearts. The gifts brought by the Magi were to honor the emergence of a perfected being who came to show us the way. Jesus said, “Everything I have done ye too shall do and greater.” What can that possibly mean? It’s a high bar, but that is our goal. As we said last week, all progress in human affairs is directional, not absolute. Let us use this time of year to do what we can to honor that hoped-for birth within ourselves and not get too caught up in the material and holiday stresses. (BTW, I almost never mention Ananda events here, but for me the most inspiring event of the entire year is the Christmas Eve service held in the temple on El Camino in Palo Alto. Info can be found here.)
New Year: A good time to reflect on the past year. Avoid the temptation to make all sorts of grandiose resolutions that fall by the wayside by mid-January. Once again, the goal ought to be directional improvement, not absolute mastery over some years-long pattern.
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And a few East West notes: First, I have been touched by the outpouring of gratitude for these weekly notes. I started them a couple of years ago, and customers often comment how helpful they are, how one came at just the right time, or how they helped in some other way. So… my great behind-the-scenes friend Ashley has compiled them into a blog. You can find it here, or at the top of our home page eastwestbooks.org. It is a compilation of all the short articles written over the past couple years or so.
Second, please do be sure to bookmark our online bookstore page. It’s a big help to East West to do all your online book purchasing through us (instead of Amazon). Almost any book on any topic can be found here.
Lastly, I have mentioned the absolutely stunning meditation yantras you can find at East West. Prices are going up next year due to material costs, so if you are interested now is a good time to check them out. They are handmade in Italy. You can see them here.
Well, that’s it for this week. Have a wonderful Holiday Season!
Blessings,
David G., manager
for the Gang at East West