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Holidays: The Promise and The Challenge
by Nessa McCasey
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December and January hold much promise of good and, at the same time, can bring challenge and stress/busyness. With the various holidays at this time of year, each holds out
expectations and demands even while being many people’s favorites. So, let’s look more deeply into this time period; how would you describe this time of year, if you were to consider opposites? Something like this…
Promise / Challenge
Twinkling Lights / Darkness
Family Gatherings / Family Gatherings
Fun and Laughter / Sadness, Stress
Create your own list of promises/challenges (plus/minus, or any other pair of opposites), to explore your feelings about the holiday season. You may wish to journal further about what you list. (I have included a few examples for you below. Feel free to change
any of these terms so that they are most meaningful for you.)
I love the twinkling lights that appear everywhere on my drive home in the darkness. I hang a few lights inside the house and light them up even during the day, especially when the weather is dreary or cloudy. On the other hand, the shortness of daylight seems
to sap my energy. I tend to feel more tired earlier in the evening as daylight hours wane. And though it’s wonderful to have family gatherings, sometimes those are stressful and even difficult. There could be sadness about those who are no longer with us during the holidays.
Either overall or during specific events, we might tend towards happiness and joy. We might be charmed by the giving atmosphere (especially if you witness children during this time). It can be a mixture of emotions, of ups and downs! Only when I write these feelings and
explorations do I have the opportunity to become more aware, not only of what I face, but of how I might choose to alter my priorities.
My idea is that as you write out your “opposing” feelings in your journal, you may clearly see the “landscape” of this holiday season. There is something very tangible about writing it all down. Then it may be easier to address what you can do about your
stresses. It may be enough to notice all the items of promise, and perhaps you will remember something meaningful for yourself through this process. You may have joy in your memories of past holidays. Or you may notice a pattern of something that is stressful. Noticing is the
first step of creating change in our lives. Keeping these musings as a record for yourself (for later in the upcoming year or even in future years) can provide a record of the progress of your own inner growth. You might wish to have a journal that is just for this time of
year, which you can pack away when you store away decorations, and then unpack again next year for another holiday season.
“Keep your faith in beautiful things;
in the sun when it is hidden,
in the spring when it is gone.”
– Roy R. Gibson
At the very least, when the weather is frightful, I hold on to the promise of spring in just a few short months away. How will I sing praises of the dark and dreary months? If I simply start “singing” (or writing), I may eventually find some treasures to hold
onto from this darkness. One year, I wrote in my journal about the way that my eyes seemed to seek out color. Have you noticed that in the winter, your eye really “looks for” and is nourished by certain colors? Perhaps that’s why the evergreen tree is an important symbol for
Christmas/Winter holidays.
Mary Oliver, in her book-length poem, The Cloud and the Leaf, “sings” in this manner.
I will sing for the salt and pepper in their little towers
on the clean table.
I will sing for the rabbit that has crossed our yard
in the moonlight,
stopping twice to stamp the cold ground
with his narrow foot. . . .
I will sing for the veil that never lifts.
I will sing for the veil that begins, once in a lifetime,
maybe, to lift.
I will sing for the rent in the veil.
I will sing for what is in front of the veil, the
floating light.
I will sing for what is behind the veil –
light, light, and more light.
This is the world, and this is the work of the world.
Excerpt from The Leaf and the Cloud, by Mary Oliver
I started to wonder how Oliver can “sing” for the rent in the veil? By looking deeply into the darkness, I imagine that she has found the opening her eyes are seeking, finding light. Since everything in our lives relies on – and provides – perspective, light
within deep darkness may not be so brilliant as a spring or summer day but it can be very valuable, even beloved. I would want to “sing” about the serene, steady light from the moon on a bitterly cold night in the middle of January. The moon offers light to me on that
bitterly cold night, as well as offering light to someone on the other side of the world, where it is a hot morning. It is the same light and yet provides varied meanings on the same exact moment. I will sing for the complexity of life.
It is only in my journal (which may be made up of poetic entries, as well as journaling entries) that I am likely to get some distance from events or circumstances in my life. Once I have written out my perspective, it is there, in black and white, so to
speak, and I can often “see” something differently as it is written out on the page. I might see something that I would have otherwise missed entirely. My writing journey has offered me an ongoing education and exploration across my life. I would wish that kind of
companioning for my best of friends, and for you, of course.
Will it be organized? Will it be linear? Will you write on lined or unlined paper? With colored ink or pencil? The choices are yours and you have the power to change anything at all about your process. Whether you are a regular journaler or are hit and miss,
each time you put pen/pencil to paper, you give yourself the gift of creative adventuring. I have found this again and again to help me through difficulties and to also record the wonderful times of my life.
I wish you the promise and wonder of the winter holidays!
© Copyright 2012 Nessa McCasey. All Rights
Reserved.
Read Nessa McCasey's Past Articles:
The Meaning of Life
Being Still and Still Moving the Pencil Balance -- Creating a Map to Take You There
Letting Go and Moving Forward: Writing as a Map of
Progress
AWriter’s Block and Then… Moving Forward Again
Identifying Our Crossroads
Daring to Dream Out Loud
Joining Together with Our Words of Grace
Midlife Questioning: One Writer's Path to
Learning
Can We Write (or Read) Our Way to Serenity?
Nessa McCasey, CPT, PTP, Mentor is a Certified Poetry Therapist who leads expressive writing groups in Michigan and online. Visit Nessa at:
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