which recalls a time when lamps burned brightly in Jewish homes, despite a shortage of the oil that lit them in those ancient days. For African Americans, Kwanzaa arrives at the very end of December and spills over into the new year, and celebrates their culture and heritage.
This eight percent of the calendar year is also the time when people give one another all manner of gifts, from gloves and ties, to scarves and who knows what else? And of course, for Christians, it’s also the time to display on their front lawns what I liken to be a kind of neon trinity of Jesus in the manger, Santa Claus, and Frosty the Snowman. Jewish people light up their homes with menorahs.
This lengthy period in December follows closely on the heels of the fourth Thursday in November, when Americans celebrate Thanksgiving.
It is a time, essentially, of thankfulness or gratitude, that more than not is overshadowed by an abundance of foodstuffs like turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, L-tryptophan helps cause Thanksgiving diners to pass out somewhere around the third quarter of the Detroit Lions football game.
Thanksgiving is just a mere three weeks after Halloween, a day or weekend of partying, during which revelers celebrate their inner witch, their inner pirate, or perhaps their inner seductress.
But why should such a small slice of the year be deemed the season to be jolly? Why shouldn’t we be jolly the remaining 92 percent of our days? Christians are taught by their savior that the Kingdom of Heaven is within them. That means that the indwelling spirit of the Creator is present in them at all times. And Jesus promised that connecting to that brings a perfect peace that passes all understanding. So I ask again: what about that other 92 percent?
Those who bend and stretch on yoga mats throughout the year are well aware that the great gurus of India reach that there; it is what they call the Atman, the inner Self within, that is a source of what they call Ananda, or bliss. And that it dwells as the core of our being, at the deepest part of the mind of everyone, whether he or she be Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, or whatever ism one chooses to call one’s own.
So if the kingdom of perfect peace and the bliss of the Atman are always present within us, why wait for a measly few weeks of the year to be jolly? Why not be jolly every day of the year?
There are probably numerous answers, of course, to this most profound of questions. One that I’m long familiar with is the presence of stress and tension. These unnatural impediments to our natural state of peace rob us of the flexibility to roll with life’s punches, much like muscle pulls rob the Hatha Yoga student of the various postures that are easy to do when muscles are relaxed and at ease.
So I say get rid of the stress. However you do it, whether it be with mantras, or asanas, or Tai Chi or religious faith. But do it today, and do it every day – so that every day is the day to be jolly.