Celebration Circle

18Feb

Spiritual Community

Photos by Gary O Smith

Now that the Circle is more than eighteen years old, it seems to have entered a new stage of development as a spiritual community. Take for example the amazing gathering that occurred at the Valentine’s Day Dance last week. Sure, it was nice to enjoy the good music, good company, and good snacks - but more importantly, it was another big step towards a growing sense of cohesion emerging within the Celebration Circle. An event like that wouldn’t have been possible without lots of volunteer hearts and hands-in other words, without a strong community effort. Preparations began a week before, when a score of volunteers had a great time coming together to paint, build, and clean at CircleSpace. And then there were all the loving folks who pitched in on Valentine’s Day to help bake, decorate, serve, and cleanup before, during and after the dance (with special thanks to Momo Brown for volunteering as event manager). It was fun, but it was more than just fun…something magical happened as stories were told, connections were made, and laughter was shared by both new and old friends. You can see some of the joyfulness reflected in the photos shown here (thanks for sharing them, Gary O. Smith), and much more of the loving vibe will be bouncing around the Circle for a long time to come.

Of course, it didn’t happen by itself. Much of our growing sense of community can be attributed to the sweet energy and hard work of our new Community Director, Jai Medina. Jai was originally hired a year ago to help me in the office. As time went by, Jai demonstrated an amazing capacity and heart for doing much more, taking on increasing amounts of responsibility in the Circle and in the office. But with only 10 paid hours a week, it was barely enough to keep up with just the most necessary work - let alone everything else that should be getting done. So as of the first of the year, the Council voted to double Jai’s hours to 20 per week, and we created the position of Community Director.

It’s a natural fit, because Jai has a passion for helping create community at the Circle. As Community Director, Jai’s been able to coordinate events like the Valentine’s Day dance, and schedule guest musicians and speakers for Circle, while raising our collective vision of exciting projects and future possibilities. Of course, it’s also wonderful that Jai has made her warehouse/livingspace available for our functions - and it certainly helps that CircleSpace is located so close to Jump-Start Theater. Thanks so much to Jai, Momo, and each one of you who have been so generous with your time, talent and treasure in this process. You know who you are, and we trust you feel showered with gratitude and blessings.

In the coming months, we intend to continue building on this momentum by offering a full slate of spiritually-oriented workshops, concerts, and events. We plan to expand our website and make it more user-friendly, thereby making more of our words, music and services available. We also hope that, as a Circle, we can serve the broader community with an appropriate service project, so please let us know if you have any ideas along these lines. And in the meantime, please join us and/or pitch in when you can. It wouldn’t be the same without you.

With gratitude and blessings,

Rudolf

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17Feb

Heart-Warming Tea Time

As the winter weather lingers, I frequently make my favorite cold-weather, hot beverage of choice, Lemon-Ginger Heart-Warming Tea. If it were possible, I’d love to come over to your house and pour you a cup right now, because it’s always fun to share tea with friends. But since I can’t, I’m doing the second best thing by sharing my recipe with you, in hopes you’ll make some for yourself sometime soon:

1 quart boiling water, poured over
1-2 tsp. of green tea leaves (Dragon Pearl Jasmine Green Tea is my favorite for this, but any unflavored green or black tea will do. And if you prefer to avoid caffeine, you can use Chamomile instead)
1 inch of fresh ginger root, peeled, and thinly sliced
1 cinnamon stick (or cinnamon powder)
3-4 whole cloves (or clove powder)

Let the tea mixture steep for 5-7 minutes, preferably in a well-insulated teapot.
Pour into large mugs, each containing 1-2 tsp lemon juice (to taste), and 1-2 tsp of pure maple syrup (or honey). If you’re daring enough, your tongue (and stomach) will thank you and dance with joy if you add a pinch of cayenne powder to the mug, too!

This tea is guaranteed to warm your heart and soul from the inside out, even on the coldest, wettest, windy-est of days. In addition to being refreshing and energizing, the ginger and spices are good for your digestive system and can really help ground your energy if you’re feeling too busy or too tired to relax.

With Valentines Day coming up, I can’t think of a nicer gift to give you loved ones (or yourself!) than to pour them a nice cup of tea, then sit back and relax for a few minutes, feeling loved and loving. Ahh…

I hope you’ll be able to join us this Sunday as we celebrate Valentines Day with a special love-filled morning service - as well as our Dance and Tea Party from 2-4pm that afternoon. But wherever you are, whatever you do, here’s wishing you a Happy, Healthy Valentines Day spent feeling loved and loving.

With blessings,

Rudolf

PS: This very same tea also makes a delicious, homemade Ginger Ale. Just mix it 1:1 with sparkling mineral water and pour over crushed ice for a tasty beverage that will quench your thirst on the hottest of days.

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17Feb

A Season for Going Deeper

Photo by Gary O Smith
Our winter weather has been much colder and wetter than usual for South Texas, but that’s fine with me. We really needed the rain, plus the hard freezes ought to help minimize the mosquito population during the long, hot summer which will be returning soon enough. Meanwhile, the unusually low temperatures have taken their toll on the plant life around here. Our yard looks particularly barren and ghostly, populated by tangles of angular, gray branches and spindly sticks. I can’t look out the window without wanting to pick up my pruning shears and start trimming back the deadwood. But I don’t, because conventional gardening wisdom says that in the San Antonio area we should wait until mid-to-late February before pruning most trees, shrubs, roses and perennials like plumbago, esperanza, lantana, and bougainvillea. Trimming any earlier will encourage them to sprout prematurely, making them vulnerable to a late freeze, (which can happen as late as the first week of March).

It’s also important to remember that the dead limbs and leaves are merely a signal that these trees and plants are focusing their growth energy underground. Winter is the time for their root systems to spread deeper and wider, thereby making it possible for the canopy to grow higher and broader in the coming year. A tree can only bear more fragrant mountain laurel blossoms in spring, more juicy peaches in summer, and more tasty pecans in autumn than it did last year, because of the silent, underground growth that occurred during winter. Pruning too early can disrupt this vital process, dissipating this much-needed energy upwards and outwards too soon.

This process holds equally true for you and me as it does for the plants and trees. We, too, need to have a time of rest, a time to be non-productive, in order to be fruitful and productive later. This simple fact tends to get overlooked in the headlong rush of daily life in the modern world, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Fortunately, right now is a good time to remember that this is the season for quiet introspection and reflection, for going deeper into the texture of our lives, for no particular reason. A time to allow these cold, wet days and nights to provide a perfect backdrop for slowing down. A chance to curl up with a good book and a cup of hot tea. To sit staring into the fireplace. For preparing a nice, healthy pot of soup for yourself and then taking the time to savor it alone — or with a few friends.

In short, this is a great time to take a cue from Mother Nature and let go of your Doing and just Be for awhile. I really hope you’ll allow your Self to be semi-dormant for a while, whether for a week, a day, or just an hour or two. I’m pretty sure you’ll be glad you did.

With blessings and hopes of seeing you Around the Circle,

Rudolf

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05Feb

Spirit is Always Present

The great contemporary violinist, Itzhak Perlman was stricken with polio as a child and always walks with the aid of leg braces and crutches. It hasn’t kept him from performing, but it does require him to undergo a complicated ritual before each concert: to walk slowly across the stage on his crutches; painfully but majestically seat himself; put his crutches on the floor; undo the clasps on his leg brace, tuck one foot forward, the other foot back, pick up his violin, nod to the conductor and begin to play.

On November 18, 1995, Perlman performed a concert at the Lincoln Center in New York, and underwent his usual, long arduous preparations for play. He nodded to the conductor, and began playing - but then something went wrong. There was a loud snap, and everyone in the auditorium could see that one of the four strings on his violin had broken.

Everyone knew what this meant. He would have to get up, repeat the long ritual in reverse, go offstage to change the string, then come back and start over again. But Perlman didn’t. Instead, he sat in silence for a few moments with his eyes closed - then opened them and signaled the conductor to begin again where he had left off. Then Itzhak proceeded to play with a passion, power and purity that no one present had ever heard before.

Of course, everyone present knew that it was impossible to play a symphony with a 3-stringed violin - everyone except Perlman. He performed the impossible feat - and right before their eyes, the audience could see him modulating, changing and recomposing the piece in his head. When he finished, there was absolute silence in the room - until everyone leapt to their feet in an extraordinary standing ovation that went on and on - for everyone knew that they’d just witnessed a miracle.

Perlman finally quieted the crowd, wiped the sweat from his brow and said in a pensive, voice that was not at all boastful, but simply reverent: “You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left…”

We may not all have the same musical talent that Itzhak Perlman has, but I believe that each of us faces the same choice he made. Because you and I have been given talents and a purpose to express to the best of our abilities. We also face challenges, losses and limitations from time to time; that’s simply part of the human condition. Then it’s a matter of remembering that it’s part of our task to find out how much we can still do with what we have left.

Fortunately, we never have to do it alone. Perhaps that is what Itzhak Perlman reminded himself in those few moments he chose to sit in the silence in front of the crowd at Lincoln Center. Spirit is always present. And no matter how difficult the circumstances or appearances, there are always helpers and helping hands available, if only we are ready to ask for and receive the support.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

With blessings and hopes of seeing you Around the Circle,

Rudolf

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25Jan

Changing Channels

The heartbreaking images of suffering Haitians stranded in the wake of the massive earthquake came leaping off the TV screen and into our hearts this week. Not knowing what else to do with the knot in my belly that formed as I watched the unfolding horror, I sat down to pray and write the following piece in order to make some sense of what I was seeing.

Changing Channels

You stare at the silver screen
at scenes too horrible to comprehend,
torn, bleeding bodies, crushed and
battered beyond recognition as
belonging to the same species as you
and your loved ones.

You, the distant viewer, are safe in your clean,
warm kitchen, where the aromas
of a healthy breakfast and a fresh pot
of hot, jasmine tea fills the air
while your eyeballs get snared by the
god-awful images of huge concrete buildings
crumpled and tossed in a heap
much like the many, colorful
Lego blocks in your young son’s bedroom,
the one you keep bugging him to clean up
“because it looks like a disaster area in here,
that’s why.”

You, whose eyes can’t help but stare at
the very real catastrophe unfolding on TV
where the reporter is standing and
speaking about the staggering death toll
and damages caused by the savage
earthquaking
suicide bombing
volcano erupting
ethnic cleansing
tsunami flooding
hurricane blasting
disaster of the hour.

You, who are powerless to resist
the searing images on the blaring screen
because you must care,
as surely as you must eat and breathe;
because compassion was genetically hardwired
into your mammalian brain eons ago,
when survival of the fittest required
that the naked apes care for anyone in their
small tribe who fell down or fell ill,
because all available hands were needed
to till the soil, hunt for food, and
secure the common good against
lions and tigers and bears, with
hunger lurking everywhere.

You, who now live in a globalized village
alongside seven billion members
of your ever-growing clan.
You, who are carefully scrutinized and scanned by
countless, corporate hired hands
tasked with keeping your eyeballs glued to
The Screen, in all its many forms,
because it’s their job to remind you
of your need to care
in order to make you stare
and sell you a greater market share of
more soap, more cars, more beer,
more cheerfully advertised goods and
services guaranteed to fill your mouth,
your house, your garage with more than enough
of all the stuff you’ll ever need to succeed
in protecting yourself from the barrage
of very real seeming threats to your security
that come spilling out of the TV at regular intervals
heading straight for you, your home and family.

Yes, you, who watch, because
if it bleeds, it leads the newscast,
scrolls along the bottom of your screen,
invites you to download the podcast,
alerts you to stay tuned for further details of
this latest disaster in
Haiti
Bali
The Philippines
Palestine
New Orleans
South Africa
Rwanda
Peru.

And because you care
because these frightful sights and sounds seem
so very close by
because your heart rate soars and tears fill your eye
because you can’t close the door in your mind
you find yourself standing at the threshold,
feeling numb
again.

But then, a little voice reminds you it’s time to
fill your travel mug with a steaming hot beverage of choice
climb into your car, and head off into the very real war
which is urban rush hour traffic.

Crawling through this sprawling mess at
five miles per hour or less
you reach for the radio and tune into the news
then change channels to smooth jazz instead
so you can fill your head and heart with
upbeat affirmations of inner peace and prosperity.

You, who long to start your day on a positive note;
You, who believe you are free to see what you want to see,
and be who you choose to be;
You step on the brakes, take a deep, calming breath
or two, or three,
turn your face to see the rising sun
and pray that Thy Will be done on Earth, today,
through me,
not knowing what that could possibly be.
Amen.

Because it seems the airwaves have been filled with even more than the usual amount of suffering and sadness than usual recently, I particularly hope you can join us this Sunday morning in the Circle as we focus on some powerful, important Good News that also emerged from within and around the Earth this past week. I’m pretty sure that you’ll feel as encouraged and uplifted as I was when I learned about these uplifting developments happening in Europe and Asia, as well as here. I really look forward to sharing the news (as well as some cool new tunes that Sarah and I have been working on!) with you this weekend - or soon.

With blessings,

Rudolf

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15Jan

Happy 18th Birthday, Celebration Circle!

It happened fifteen years ago, but I can still remember how excited I was when a group of Celebration Circle friends traveled to Houston to hear the Dalai Lama speak. A long drive in a crowded van was followed by a seemingly endless wait in line to get into a huge college gymnasium with terrible acoustics, which made it difficult to understand this revered Buddhist leader speaking in his heavy, Tibetan accent. But none of that mattered. Powerful vibrations of Love and Joy came shining through His Holiness, filling the hall as he urged us all to take heart. To discover/recover our own capacity for love and compassion. To focus not on him, but on his message of inner peace as the path to world peace. It was very moving, and his eloquent lessons made the journey seem well worthwhile.

Afterwards, we found ourselves drawn into a cluster of people standing outside the stage door where the Dalai Lama’s limousine was parked, hoping for a closer look at him. My wife, Zet, and several other people in our party, pressed in nearer, and motioned me to join them, but my observer-self chose to hang back. Suddenly the door swung open and a small army of attendants, police and bodyguards began clearing a path, trying their best to move him from the building into the car as quickly as possible - but he would have none of it. He was clearly enjoying the personal interactions, taking his time in shaking hands, bowing repeatedly, kneeling on the ground to play with a baby, smiling sweetly from ear to ear.

Eventually, the motorcade drove off, and a joyous afterglow descended on those of us left standing in the driveway. My friends were excited to have gotten so close to him, especially Zet, who was wearing a huge smile and the white, silk scarf which the Dalai Lama had held and blessed for her. Suddenly, my joyfulness evaporated, as I began beating myself up for not having pressed forward along with my friends for this rare opportunity to have physical contact with such a holy man. If only…

And then, just as suddenly, I found myself chuckling at the irony of the situation. We had driven 200 miles, stood patiently in long lines, endured terrible acoustics and long waits, just so we could hear, see and touch a sage whose main message was: “Don’t look to me; look to your own heart and your own life.” And now here I was, busy kicking myself for not having touched him. What a good joke! What a lesson!

Time and again in the years since then, I’ve seen how easy it is to make such errors. To mistake the messenger for the message, to glorify the teacher instead of the teachings. To engage in a meditation technique for the pleasurable sensations involved, rather than staying open to what it might reveal at a deeper, more subtle level. To encounter perfectly viable metaphysical tools, such as crystals, Tarot cards, yoga poses or breathwork techniques intended to help us get focused on the inner movements of Spirit - and wind up focusing on the tools themselves instead.

As we prepare to celebrate the Circle’s 18th Birthday this weekend, it’s rewarding to look back at the wide variety of spiritual teachers, teachings and techniques that we’ve welcomed and learned from over the years. Along the way, I’ve done what I could as Spiritual Director to remind us (myself included!) to take responsibility for our own inner growth. To avoid the trap of looking to any one teacher or technique as having The Answer. To remember that personal growth is an ongoing process of rediscovering our own Wholeness, something which each of us must engage by ourselves, AND we don’t have to do it alone. Support is invaluable, and readily available in the context of a spiritual community like the Celebration Circle!

I sure hope you’ll be able to join us for our Birthday celebration, which is going to be Big Fun. But more than just being an enjoyable day, we’ll be marking an important milestone in the Circle’s process of maturation. As we turn eighteen and emerge from our “teenage years” as a community, there’s a heightened sense of group identity, as well as a deepening of spirit, and the desire to be of service to others. We’ll be addressing these areas of growth during our Annual Meeting on Sunday afternoon. For now, let me just say how pleased I am to be walking this path of spiritual community alongside you. It’s been an amazing adventure so far — with much more ahead — and I’m deeply grateful for your love and support which help make it all possible.

With blessings and hopes of seeing you around the Circle,

Rudolf

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08Jan

Blessings to YOU this New Year!

As we begin another New Year, the newspapers, TV and cyberspace are filled with experts giving us advice on how to better our lives, lose weight, gain confidence, exercise more, eat less, make money, get a better job/partner/credit rating - in short, how to be a new, improved person. That’s all very well, and I send blessings to those who are hoping to change their lives following such guidance.

But I’d like to offer another view, for I’ve found that such suggestions have somewhat limited usefulness, largely because they’re based on the illusion that The Past and The Future are two separate entities, neatly divided by a straight line running through The Present. The assumption being that if you can just summon enough willpower and discipline, you’ll be able to dissect yourself into discrete parts, leaving the Undesirable You and Imperfect Past behind in order to leap into the New You existing in a Perfect Future. But our lives are simultaneously much messier and more magnificent than that. Messier, because there are no clear lines; magnificent, because there is so much more than just you at work. Contemporary science is finding ever more evidence that all natural systems – from galaxies to termite colonies, from people to protozoa - grow through chaos. While there does seem to be an underlying order to the process, we change in seemingly random leaps and lurches, with peaks and valleys that can’t be planned, predicted or manipulated. On the other hand, than means our lives are also much more complex and wondrous than we can imagine. It just tends to take some time for most of us to catch on, because we’re so busy struggling through life, trying to accomplish things under our own steam, using our willpower to create our desired outcomes.

But there is another way that beckons you. And it unfolds as you learn to accept and appreciate your Divinity as well as your humanity. It invites you to embrace the unlimited resources and boundless creativity available when you make a conscious choice to align and allow your Higher Power to guide and ground you. And that this choice is one you must make again and again.

I don’t pretend to know how that looks in your life, much less where you are in that process. I do know that the first step, and a very vital step, is to love and accept yourself (and all of your circumstances), just the way you are. It’s difficult to lose weight, quit smoking, find a new job, or make any other significant change without first making peace with the body, habits, and circumstances that have brought you to where you are currently. The chances are that even if you get some short-term results, you are doomed to disappointment in the long run, because you are in competition with yourself, which is a game you can never win.

Why not start the New Year loving and blessing yourself and all your Magnificence — past, present and future. Make room for all that is coming your way as you align with Spirit, knowing that while you have to do it by yourself, you don’t have to do it alone. For you are surrounded by Divine Love, made manifest in many, many ways that you may not fully understand, but that you can always trust. It certainly helps to be part of a spiritual community like the Celebration Circle and surround yourself with loving people and gatherings that support your consciousness. That’s why I really look forward to seeing you around the Circle, for my sake, as well as yours! But it’s also important to remember that you are surrounded by loving people and possibilities wherever you are, whatever you do. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, there is but One Presence and One Power: Love. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

With blessings and best wishes for your health and happiness,

Rudolf

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03Jan

Climb Up!

I’ve been meaning to build a tree house ever since we moved into our home eight years ago. After all, we’ve got lots of space and several large trees growing in the yard. I’m not much of a handyman, but my next door neighbor is Tim Lapping, a longtime friend and top-notch professional carpenter, well known for creating high-quality outdoor decks and tree houses, including the one he built at our previous home many years ago. Naturally, I kept imagining the great “cabin in the sky” we’d construct here at Casa SurPresa. Ostensibly, it would be for the sake of our son, Mateo, and his buddies, but I’m the one who really enjoys being up in a tree. So, from time to time, Tim and I would stand around at various locations on the property, discussing the multiple options that would be available once I had enough time, money, and decisiveness to proceed.

But that’s as far as it got until a few weeks ago, when one of those Perfect Autumn Weather days pulled me away from my desk, pushed me outdoors and demanded action. On impulse, I nabbed Mateo from out of the house, and together we grabbed some tools and a few old two-by-four’s, and managed to hammer enough wooden steps in place to clamber up into our biggest hackberry tree. We had so much fun being perched up there that we got Tim to climb up the next day and nail a long, thick plank between two sturdy branches. Ta-da! Instant Tree house! Okay, so it doesn’t have any walls or pulleys (yet). But hey, it does the trick, providing an elevated spot to hang out comfortably and watch the world from a whole different angle. Being up there is a great way to “change my space” instantly on several levels, helping me step away from the humdrum details of daily life for a while, and feel more connected to nature, to Spirit, to the moment at hand and the future as well. To climb up onto this simple platform is literally an opportunity to step up into a Higher Place.

I’m telling you this by way of introducing the fact that we’ll be celebrating the New Year in the Celebration Circle by climbing up into a tree house together. At least, metaphorically speaking, if not literally… That’s because we’re holding two events specifically designed to help us “start the New Year with an elevated view of the year ahead.” First, we’re hosting a wonderful party on January 1st (from 5-8pm at High Wire Arts; see details below) featuring great food, creative activities and the Circle Band performing in concert. In addition to being a lot of fun, as well as a fundraiser for the Circle Band’s first recording project, you’ll have the option to spend some time in a guided visualization process and/or creating an inspirational collage or drawing that envisions your hopes for 2010. It’s a perfect time and space for this creative venture, and we’re really grateful to Ray and Cindy Palmer for letting us meet in their amazing art gallery-studio-home-space!

Then, this Sunday, January 3rd, during our morning service, Zet and I will be leading an extended meditation focused on setting sacred intentions, then inviting you to write a Letter of Intention to yourself. This letter will then be mailed back to you at the end of the year. We’ve done this exercise on the first Sunday in January for the past seventeen years, and it has consistently been one of our most upbeat and popular gatherings each year. That’s because there’s something very elevating and empowering about gathering with a group of people focused on envisioning possibilities side by side.

I really hope that you can join us for one or both of these exciting chances to “climb up in a tree house” together to take an elevated look at the promises and prospects for the year(s) ahead. Come, co-create with us!

With blessings and best wishes for a healthy, happy New Year,

Rudolf

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27Dec

The Gift of the Precious Present

Have you noticed that some folks give the same Christmas presents year after year? The uncle who always hands you an envelope containing a crisp $20 bill; the insurance agent who presents the annual sampler box of chocolates; the neighbor that loves to deliver her “famous” homemade jelly. Although there’s no element of surprise, the constancy involved can be very satisfying - especially if you happen to like jelly and chocolate.

It’s in that spirit that I offer you a Holiday gift that you may have received from me in years past, because it’s something I never tire of giving - or receiving either, for that matter. It is the amazing gift of the Precious Present.

The “Present” is literally this moment, which is truly a gift. And it’s “Precious” because it is priceless, irreplaceable and incredibly valuable. No amount of money could buy you another one, once it has passed. This Precious Present invites us to be still for a while. To breathe fully, sit quietly, and drink in the miraculous connection to our deepest selves, each other and all of Life.   To feel the boundless goodness of Spirit flowing to you, through you, from you, as you. Now….   and now…   and now…

Of course, the Precious Present is not really mine to give, because you already own it. All you have to do is remember to pay attention and receive it fully. And yet, I love the process of “giving” it by reminding you to receive this precious gift of being present, precisely because it helps me remember, too. Let’s face it. We all tend to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the Holidaze… Which is why I’m inviting you to join me for a few minutes of silence by sinking into the Precious Present, right here and now.

Won’t you feel the power of just sitting here comfortably, without doing a single thing other than opening to this moment? Please don’t worry if you don’t “get it” right away. There’s no rush, no right way or wrong way to do this. And if you find yourself getting caught up in a flurry of feelings, fantasies, and memories that’s okay, too. Just be gentle with yourself. Remember that you have a very Precious Present waiting for you, right here, right now. And somehow, you both give and receive it through your willingness to pay attention.  Ahh…

It is the Gift that keeps on giving. To you - and to everyone whose life you touch, including mine! Thank you so much for sharing it with me and the rest of the Celebration Circle for these few moments… and hopefully, for a long time to come.

With blessings and best wishes for healthy, happy Holidays,

Rudolf

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20Dec

Santa Pause

Of course you know what happens on the night before Christmas, when Santa Claus travels all around the world in a sleigh, sliding down chimneys, and leaving lots of presents. But did you know that on the night after Christmas, Santa’s twin brother makes a similar, but very different trip? That’s right, Santa Claus has a slightly-younger, twin brother named Santa Pause. You’ve probably never heard of him; most folks haven’t. Although Claus was born just one minute earlier, he’s always been larger, louder and more visible than his twin. Tall and thin, Santa Pause avoids wearing the Santa family’s traditional red and white furry outfits, mostly because colorful, tropical shirts and baggy shorts are much more comfortable to wear in sunny Hawaii, where he lives, far away from the icy North Pole.

Being a quiet, easy-going guy by nature, Pause doesn’t mind that his brother Claus receives all the fame and glory. Because for most of the year, while Claus stays busy inside his Arctic workshop making long lists and checking them twice, Pause is chilling out under a palm tree, soaking up some rays, playing guitar, reading and spending long hours in prayer and meditation.

Yes, Santa Pause lives a blissful life in Hawaii, and he could easily stay there all the time, except that he shares a strong family trait with his brother, Claus: they both enjoy giving. They just do so in very different ways. And that’s why, every year, just as Christmas Day is drawing to a close, Santa Pause sits down on a meditation cushion under his favorite palm tree, opens his arms wide to embrace the light of the sun setting over the ocean, smiles a big smile and begins chanting quietly to himself: “Om Santa, Om Santa, Om Santa…”

Soon, the lilting syllables lift him up, up and far, far away… to here and there and everywhere… traveling through the Santa Dimension to arrive in each home where someone has invited him. He magically alights in the most comfortable seat in each place he visits. It might be on an easy chair, right next to the warmth of a fireplace. Or it could be a spot in the bedroom, or a hammock hung on the back porch. But wherever he lands, he lives up to his name by taking a good long pause, breathing deeply and feeling just as peaceful as possible. Then he silently showers blessings on all who are asleep in this home. When he’s done, he opens his arms out wide, smiles a big smile, takes one long, last deep exhale - and just disappears back into the Santa Dimension. How does he do it? No one really knows, because no one has ever seen him do this, and yet many, many people have experienced the sweet peace that settles into every house and every heart he’s ever visited.

Would you like to experience that for yourself? Then consider doing the following sometime on Christmas Day. Take a few minutes away from the hustle and bustle of cooking, eating, wrapping and unwrapping presents to go sit quietly by yourself. It might be before dinner, or afterwards. The house might be totally quiet, or full of other folks who are making lots of noise. It doesn’t matter. Just go off and sit alone in your favorite spot. You do have one, don’t you? Someplace where you like to sit and read, or pray, or just stay for awhile to relax? If not, you might want to consider creating such a spot in your house. It could be on an overstuffed sofa, or a firm, straight-backed chair. It could be somewhere in your yard, or on a straw mat, a flat rock or a soft cushion. It really doesn’t matter. It just needs to be a place where YOU like to sit peacefully from time to time.

Now take a few quiet breaths and quietly invite Santa Pause to come visit your home that night after all the Christmas food and fun and festivities are done. That’s all. Nothing fancy. Just a few minutes of sending your quiet invitation is enough. Then, whenever you’re ready, just get up and go on to enjoy whatever you do and whomever you’re with for the rest of Christmas Day.

Then, whenever you get up and get dressed, go to where you think he sat, and you’ll experience the gift Santa Pause left behind as you sit silently… and breathe… and feel… the deep peace that comes from taking such a special pause during the Holidays - and every day.

With love and blessings,

Rudolf

Posted in 2009 Rudolf's Reflections | No Comments »

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