I just got back from a two week trip to California. With the exception of a few days, it was sunny and warm, the birds were chirping and the people were smiling. The traffic is always congested, but people let you get ahead of them, or let you in when you need to get out of an entrance. The people working in stores and restaurants were friendly and helpful.
Christmas decorations were displayed like anywhere else. However it was more about the holidays and getting together then religion or the ridiculous ,"war on christmas", like it is back home in Michigan.
Being in another state for two weeks had put me and my girlfriend in a new state of mind. We felt better and it wasn't just the sunshine and warm weather, but the warm people, open minds and cheerful attitudes. I found that people were more accepting of our lack of belief as well.
So now I am home and driving thinking about how nice it was in California as somebody cut me off in traffic and gave me the finger because I needed to get in the other lane. So for once I did not return the ugliness as I approached their vehicle at the light as they yell at me from their SUV that has a bumper sticker of the cross on it.
So.....
Happy Holidays and Reasons Greetings!
Subscription Note:
Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.
Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.
I was doing meditation at one point in my life. I was always impressed by the way I felt after an hour of practice. I also used the flotation chambers in California. When exiting the meditation or the Chambers, the world seemed new. It was as if noticing things for the first time. Becoming aware of my own breathing and not just each footstep but where every footstep was placed. The smells and the sounds that appeared to assault my senses and pull me out of my state of bliss.
Well, I brought up the fact that I was meditating to one of my psychology professors who knew a bit about the subject. I mentioned the feeling of bliss, separation from events yet feeling a part of all events. My thought was "Every event in my life seems to want to pull me out of this state of awareness. It's like the world does not want me to access it." He just looked at me and said, "It's always there. All you have to do is remember to use it.
In general, I notice people get nastier not nicer or more friendly around christmas.
If you are a procrastinator like me, you inevitably find yourself shopping close to xmas. All these last minute shoppers are collectively some of the rudest people I know, it is like people choose 2 times to be outwardly rude. In their giant SUV on the road, and when they are last minute shopping.
While I love the excuse to get together with family and friends around national holidays, I do wish these holidays were not based on religion, or in christmas case, both religion and heavy dose of commercialization. If I could choose, I would say we celebrate winter solstice (dec 21st) (or summer solstice for southern hemisphere) with a day off, no expectation to buy people stuff, just a day off where we can be with friends and family if we want.