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December 12, 2015

Holding Presence During the Busy Holidays & into the New Year.

my stomach doesn't meditate web

As the holidays approach and the end-of-year pressures build, there’s so much to do, so many items on the ever-expanding to-do list.

And as you look forward to the New Year, such questions inevitably come up:

  • How can you set priorities and focus on what matters most?
  • How can you whittle the list down to the core—so that your actions and choices align with your heart’s deeper dream?

What Matters Most—the wisdom traditions from around the world—suggest using death as your advisor. The awareness of death, far from being a morbid preoccupation, illuminates the sacredness of this moment.

I remember teaching a meditation retreat on Maui and waking each morning to the most amazing spider web bedecked in glisten drops of dew. Each drop sparkled like a jewel in the morning sun.

The very sun that would cause each radiant drop to evaporate within the hour.

Isn’t every moment of your life as radiant as a drop of dew—and just as fleeting?

Yes, there’s a lot to do. But, it’s easy to miss the radiance when we’re caught up in the rush. A awareness of death—which is awareness of the sacredness of this moment—clarifies the relative importance of the items on your to-do list.

Awareness of death brings into sharp relief this moment-to-moment choice: will you devote yourself to what matters most or pour your life into busy-work?

Fidelity to your heart’s deepest dream isn’t primarily a matter of self-discipline or productivity systems; it’s more a practice of remembering that this life is jewel-like, radiant, and fleeting like the dew on a spider’s web.

Try this alternative to a complex productivity system:

Several times each day pause and as the question that poet Mary Oliver poses: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” And, I would add—

And what is a simple, direct choice that will move you in that direction?

This free series of multimedia teachings connects you to the consciousness that integrates planning and presence.

Practical and powerful methods for connecting you to the sacred values and inner awareness that generate Awakened Goal Setting.

Join me in learning how to:

  1. End burnout, confusion, and overwhelm
  2. Energize goals with Power & Bliss
  3. Figure out what’s in your way? Transforming obstacles
  4. Remove distractions (and self-doubt)
  5. Find stillness in action (how to embody wisdom)

Love & Shanti E & D

 

 

 

Author: Eric Klein

Editor: Renée Picard

Image: original illustration via the author

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