Stress Archives - Gillian Monks

Is time moving too quickly for you? Are you feeling harassed by how fast Christmas appears to be approaching? Do you feel the need to slow time down, or stop it all together while you catch up?

Perhaps one antidote to this is by telling yourself how many days you still have to accomplish everything, not how few days there are left to you. Perhaps you also need to prioritise and decide to leave something out this year. Within reason, only try to do what you can. And before you become desperate, ask for help.

I would just like to point out that ‘Christmas’ is a whole season which contains many events. It is not just one day – the 25th December – but encompasses the whole of that month (and often the end of November as well), as well as the original Twelve Days of Christmas which only end on the 5th January.

How does one define Christmas anyway? For me, it has never just been about decorations, gifts and lots to eat… it is how we feel while we are engaged in these activities. It all depends on our perspective and outlook on life.

My Christmas begins with washing all my pots and dishes on my kitchen dresser sometime in November, riding them of any residual summer dust. This never fails to fill me with joy as I know what the action signifies – the beginning a wonderfully warm and happy time. Then there is the baking of the Christmas cakes on Stir-Up Sunday. It is also in the shortening days, teatime dusk, stormy grey skies and the nip of frost.

Writing seasonal cards and letters, completing making gifts, choosing, sorting and wrapping, cutting the first evergreenery to bring inside to deck the halls – and yes, the planning, the making of lists and menus, the cleaning, cooking and shopping… to me, this is all Christmas, and can bring just as much fun and pleasure as the main day itself, in its own way… given the chance.

Turn back the time to childhood. Youngsters feel the magic of Christmas – that indefinable promise, excitement and presence which lurks in candlelit shadows, snowy scenes and the marvellous anticipation. It threads its way through all the schemes, surprises and plans that we each make… it dodges in and out of our dreams of perfection, it peeps at us from the burgeoning shops filled with decorations and echoes to us from a well-loved Christmas carol.

What we need to do is to catch hold of this ephemeral magic and bring it into our everyday lives. Making the very most of each little situation and occasion is a good way to begin. Play some seasonal music, burn some spicy incense, make yourself a hot chocolate or pour yourself a little glass of wine to help get you in the mood and set the scene. More than that, include someone else, make someone laugh, compliment someone on how they look, lift someone’s spirits, phone them, tell someone how much you care for them… reach out to others…

And don’t forget yourself in all of this: nurture and care for yourself and make sure that you find something satisfying, joyful, and yes, even magical, in the proceedings. This may just be by sitting still and quiet for five minutes and allowing yourself to simply ‘be’.

Remember the natural world, too. Feed your wild birds and mammals which might not have hibernated fully, take extra care of domestic pets, especially those who are growing elderly and might find the cold, wet months more of a strain on aging painful joints. Retreat out into the fresh air as a way of regenerating your energy, and give joyful thanks that it is all there, just waiting to support and heal you.

Yes, Christmas often means lots of extra work, exhaustion, frayed nerves, an empty purse and being at odds with one’s nearest and dearest, not to mention having to cope with awkward and uncooperative people. This is simply life, but all the difficulties are suddenly magnified by that insistent little spirit of Christmas magic which refuses to leave any of us alone during these early winter months. and which spurs us on to increasingly more… but also encourages us to seek that indefinable magical element of Christmas.

Give yourself a few moments. Smile. Open your heart to your tasks, to your people, to yourself… this will allow the magic of Christmas to come to your aid, to enter in, to flourish… and then I can promise you that you can expect the totally unexpected and, yes, a little magic to come your way.

Try it and see…

Here is a picture of the Earthwalking Archway – symbolic commitment to entering the Earthwalking cycle. There are still a couple of places left on the next cycle – do any of you reading this feel that you could step through the willow into the space beyond?

We all had a lovely time together on Sunday at the Earthwalking introductory day. Numbers gradually grew throughout the day and as the weather improved, by the middle of the afternoon we were able to move outside into the hot sunshine.

The morning began with lots of grey cloud, damp and cool, as we tramped around part of the land and I was able to point out the stream, (which provides our water), the willow bower where on hot days we sometimes retreat into the shade while we journey or hold discussions. We also walked around the ritual grove area where the embryonic circles of oak saplings are flourishing and past the willow labyrinth with its four interconnected spirals and on to the tiny island of apples… the water channel around it being mightily overgrown at present but bursting with wildlife.

We also took time to connect to the four elements, to spend time with and savour them. People sat besides the lively stream who’s waters were swollen by the recent rain and bowls were individually drawn from it, peaty brown and stirred from the depths of the Earth herself. Tiny fires were carefully built and lit upon the bank of the stream and time spent entering into the dancing flames and appreciating their warm… their cleansing and transformative abilities… their potentially destructive power. Hands were muddied from digging out the earth and cheeks were cooled by the presence of the gusty wind.

Coffee and mint tea (picked fresh from the herb beds) were brewed and home made flapjack passed around before we went on to discuss why it might be necessary to regularly cleanse oneself psychically/spiritually; some of the ways to go about it and the best times to do it.

By one o’clock we were all ready for lunch – thick farmhouse tomato soup, cobs of brown, crusty bread studded with crisp seeds, blocks of cheese and piles of fruit followed by pieces of moist lemon drizzle and sticky chocolate cakes. By this time we had been joined by our youngest visitor to Earthwalking ever – a very small little lady who only celebrates her first birthday at the end of this month. She was absolutely charming and impeccably behaved and quite stole all our hearts!

The afternoon was spent looking at the Celtic Spirit Wheel which is in fact a