My word for 2021 is shift. Like everyone I know, I’ve learned a lot, since this time last year. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that change and uncertainty just are. Since I’m not in control of much more than which yoga pants, Zoom-appropriate top, and slippers I’ll wear each day, I needed to figure out how I could deal with all the change and uncertainty. That’s where shifting comes in.
For me, shifts involve acceptance and adjustment. I know I don’t have much control, but I have unlimited choices. I can shift.
Some of my recent shifts have been pretty significant. Some have been tiny. Some haven’t happened, yet. And I’m sure I’ll make a lot of shifts I can’t even imagine.
Is it just me, or does it look like this this cookie is winking? I spent Saturday morning baking. So, I saw a lot of cookies. Is it possible this one saw me, too?
A shift that happens for me this time of year is heightened senses. I seem to smell, see, hear, and feel more intensely. I see more distinct shapes in the clouds. I spot mud puddles that are heart-shaped. I hear lyrics meant just-for-me. It’s almost impossible for me to miss the joy or sadness others are feeling. And then there’s that winking cookie.
What kinds of shifts do you experience this time of year?
Lisa’s Cheap Therapy blog 
I am sure this is common for older people: I remember Christmases from childhood vividly: listening to the sound of tire chains clinking on snowy roads and streets (before snow tires, kids!) to detect my Dad’s early return home from work on Christmas Eve. Cutting snowflakes out of aluminum foil and stenciling snow designs on the frost covered windows with soap, making paper chains to string across the ceiling, picking out the Christmas tree, which was kept fresh in a bucket until it was put up on Christmas Eve, Dad “helping Santa” by putting on the lights before our bedtime (Santa magically did ALL the rest while we slept!) Mom making dozens of cookies and mince pies snd Christmas puddings. Waiting anxiously for the Christmas presents to come in the mail from England-a mailman once appeared on Christmas morning with that precious gift box! The year I cried because our tree was not taller than 14-year-old me, and Dad built a box to stand it on. Favorite books that I unwrapped on Christmas: beautifully bound novels by Dickens, an encyclopedia of Art History, sweaters hand made by my mother or grandmother. Dressing up for social events… I could go on. Later, making elaborate buffet dinners for parties, working hard to create equally wonderful magic for my kids, the year all the adults were horribly sick with an intestinal bug, but managed to assemble a play gym and a millennium falcon anyway, the time 3-year-old James said “I’ve wanted these all my LIFE!” Of his new cowboy boots. Later still Christmases spent alone or with friends while the boys were at their Dad’s, still good times among some bleak hours, singing in choir at church and rejoicing in the brilliance of light at midnight, journeys to my home town, snow adventures, still Mom’s indefatigable Christmas baking….my own home, a last minute tree lit with all green lights because no others were left-and 21 years later still that green-lit tree—and now Christmases with my son, daughter in law and Grandson…the challenge is to make today’s Christmases as bright with whatever spirits of past, present and yet to come as Christmas was when I was six.
I love the cookie wink!
I shift my time. “ Giving” is my spiritual gift, and I find more ways to give during this time of year. My “senses” are always intensified and during this time of year they are even more so! In January I will shift my time for more rest and quiet .
Wow and thanks, Penny! I can smell those scents, see those lights, feel those feelings of fear, delight, and gratitude. Thanks for sharing your shifts.
Thanks, Dena! Giving is such A sacred gift – offering and receiving.
I hope your January is generous in its rest and quiet for you. 💜