Taking a Break From IT All....

It's been a great Christmas so far, in many ways, yet I do find myself slipping back into old habits. One of my biggest ones is not being able to relax fully or even let myself enjoy a few days of down time. I have such a need to keep doing, keep going.

Instead of just being or allowing things to be as they are.

I guess it comes from many years of always being kept on my toes around certain people. You know the ones - they are relatives of all of us. The creatures who show up at your house or worse, you are expected to go to theirs - and then you have to be on your guard every minute because of the awful energy.

Usually the energy is dark, heavy and worrisome. Or to put a description on it; I have been to a few gatherings where the chat would alternate between poking fun (in a nasty way) at a few others who weren't there or signaling out a few who were and attacking them.

For some reason I would not be in the direct line of fire, but I could feel the sharpness of the barbs as they hurtled past me. Either way, it was no way to spend any portion of the holidays and it left me feeling frazzled at the end of it all.

Gossip, negative talk about others and critical talk are very heavy to be around - even if you are not always within earshot of what is being said, it doesn't take much intuition to figure it out. I remember walking into a health food store in a town where I lived (there was only one) and they carried on gossiping about the previous customer who had just left - I was appalled (and kept thinking of that darkness around the food) and never went back.

This is dangerous energy to be slinging around and for some reason these family holiday gatherings seem to bring out the worst in everyone who is so inclined. If you are party to any of this - it will pull you down and hold you there.

Best thing to do is to disengage, clean up your act and walk (run!) away from those who make this type of idle chat an occupation. They are a complete waste of time and energy - and will stop you from enjoying your holiday break.

April