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The real meaning of Advent?

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Lit Advent candle

advent noun
1 the arrival of a notable person or thing: the advent of television.
2 (Advent) the first season of the Church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.
Old English, from Latin adventus ‘arrival’, from advenire, from ad- ‘to’ + venire ‘come’.

Advent has arrived. Of course, there is a certain irony to think of a period that looks forward as something that is here now. But thoughts like that seem particularly poignant this year. Every month, or week, or moment, I have thought we have got somewhere, arrived, only to realise that things have not improved or changed.

Things are different.

Primarily because of the pandemic and partly due to my laziness, I haven’t got an advent candle this year. It’s the first time in several years I don’t have one. I have found great comfort in the moments spent meditating and contemplating ‘stuff’ each day as one number at a time melted away. I don’t need a numbered candle for that but every symbol helps and is a gentle reminder that there is more out there than my own personal bubble of fears, worries and concerns.

The pandemic has disrupted things. It has disrupted routines. It has disrupted structure and function and forms of living. Whether any of the things it has disrupted could be called normal is debatable, but what is certain is that our regular has been disrupted.

Back to my lack of a candle: disruption to my regular. It is easy to focus on the negative of this disruption. To focus on what I don’t have and what I can’t have. The challenge is to look forward.

  • To focus on the horizon
  • To the way ahead
  • To the vision of what will be and what is to come
  • To know that what I do now is paving my path ahead, strengthening the tunnel through all of this

I don’t have a candle. You may not have a candle, or struggle to find any light, but it is there. We can all hold on to a little hope, a little faith, a little miracle. Despite all that the virus and 2020 si throwing at us, there is hope and there is light. The tunnel may be of indeterminate length but it will have an end and as we travel along the light will brighten. This is Advent.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

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Give thanks It’s Thanksgiving

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It is a day to give thanks. It may seem like these dark times will never end, but they will. We will look back and say,

‘do you remember when… ‘.

Situations change like the seasons. The sun rises and sets, the moon waxes and wanes. A time for all things. New things will come to pass and we will give thanks for those too.

In the meantime, I capture, collect and curate in my journals. I give thanks for all I have and realise that despite the frustrations and issues currently on my mind and besetting me (and others), I am blessed beyond all measure.

Thank you

We don’t do thanksgiving in the UK, which is a shame. Giving thanks and showing gratitude is an important thing. It should be a daily occurrence, and I try… another thing I attempt to capture in my journal and remember as I meditate and pray. It’s a double shame that we don’t do thanksgiving when we have imported the related, yet self-centred driven, Black Friday.

Having a day or a set time to give thanks enables us to pause. This year it can help us step back from the pandemic and take a moment to realise what we have, how precious those things are and to protect them until we step into the post violating world.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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Seeking myself

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I seem to be struggling with a few things at the moment.

  • So much I want to say, yet can’t.
  • So much I want to do, yet can’t.

And all the reasons I can’t are out of my hands, out of my control. And I am finding it far too easy to focus on those negatives. And when I focus on the negatives I don’t say or do what I can. I wallow. I lose myself. It’s a downward spiral I have to avoid.

Thankfully there is art, there is journaling and there are my soundscapes and lyrics. I just have to find myself amongst the detritus of current circumstances. My future will be different.

The path is ahead of me is all I have ever wanted and desired. As the sun rises and crosses the heavens, so I follow my path.