Being Rich at Christmas

The richest person is the one with a cool mind , free of tension and anxiety.
Sri Swami Satchidananda

Sigh!!! I am realizing just how not rich I am lol.  I awoke at 3 ish and was unable to settle back to sleep...thinking about how unrich I am in the worldly sense...and how stressful that is making this holiday season.  So at this moment I know I am not free of tension and anxiety, therefore I am not rich.  Are you?

How do we get rich?

I am not complaining so much about my financial situation.  I have "enough" to put bread into the stomach and that is all any of us need.  I am able to feed everyone thanks to D.'s contribution into the household.  I have a roof over my head.  I have a vehicle to drive.  I have more than that.  I have more than many.  I don't have a lot for gifts though and as long as I am caught up in this commercialized version of Christmas and listening to ego who says, "Oh!  you have to get more than that for that person.  They will be so disappointed if you don't" which sadly I am, I won't be free of tension and anxiety.  I won't have a cool mind.

How do we get this cool mind? 

Letting go is always the means of getting a cool mind.  We can  let go of tension and anxiety by understanding and letting go of the "thinking" and "believing" that brings it on. This version of
Christmas...is something "ego" created with its notion of "specialness". Do we not all have this running advertisement in our heads: "Show the special people in your  life just how much you care with the purchase of this or that..." ? Is it not time we questioned that?

First of all: How does a "thing" represent something as powerful and permanent as love?  It doesn't.  We love....because that is what we are.  And we are not things

Second of all...Whose "special"?  This whole notion of the "special relationship" comes up again.  Kindness to all is the thing isn't it?  What did good old Santa call out as he and his disgruntled reindeer flew off of the rooftop, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!" He didn't pick out a select few names like the lady in Romper Room did, excluding the vast majority. He included all.  lol

More importantly, in the real meaning of Christmas, what is intended by  remembering the birth of Christ: "Peace and joy to the world!"  Not just peace and joy to the people in our families and a few select friends who we want to impress with our thoughtfulness. That is ego!

Not a Grinch.  Really?

I am rationalizing my lack in the gifting department...I actually used to be quite extravagant...I am still caught up in ego's little games even if I do not have the circumstances to allow me to carry it very far...there is no doubt about that.   But I do see and realize what I am doing and I have to question why.

 I want to be rich in the truest sense of the word and that will involve getting rid of ego's hold on me no matter how socially conditioned and expected it is. ...even at Christmas! It will involve replacing tension and anxiety with peace. Imagine floating through the holiday on a cloud of sublime peace and contentment...rather than struggling, fighting one's way through it?

Why wouldn't we want to be rich this Christmas in the truest sense of the word? Even if it means taking all the whistles and gadgets from "Whoville" and learning the true lesson of what Christmas is all about.

That is my sleepless rant for the day.

All is well.