{"id":11123,"date":"2016-01-05T15:12:03","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T20:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=11123"},"modified":"2016-01-05T15:12:03","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T20:12:03","slug":"reflections-in-a-christmas-ornament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2016\/01\/reflections-in-a-christmas-ornament.html","title":{"rendered":"reflections in a Christmas ornament"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"christmas<\/a>
the author’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There’s something incredibly poignant about packing away the Christmas tree. Pulling off the ornaments — some so very old & fragile\u00a0the one I made with my mother when I was 6, the one I made w\/ my younger son when he was 6.\u00a0<\/em>Wrapping them snugly in their tissue cocoons so they can be ready for next year. They become\u00a0the past<\/em> as I lay them in the storage bin.<\/p>\n

And wondering if all of us will be here next year…<\/p>\n

This year we lost my oh-so-missed Mom, my beloved’s mother, but mine too, after all these years. Each Sunday, when I transfer a pebble from one bowl\u00a0the future<\/em> to another\u00a0the past<\/em>, I wonder how many pebbles I have.<\/p>\n

So I put on my favourite music, a Spotify playlist of just riffs on Pachebel’s Canon. It’s public — if you go to Spotify & search for my name, it should come up. When I’m blue, or need comforting, or just need to remember that peace is the blue sky the clouds run across, I play it. The music is all over the place — techno, jazz, classical, harp, trumpet. No vocals, but the warm beauty of the Canon, in a hundred (well, maybe a few less) renditions.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>
the author’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And it helps. I promise. Right now, someone is jazzing the chords, and I’m looking at the juxtaposition of one of the newest ornaments — a mercury glass ball — and one of the older — a wooden warthog from our trip to Kenya, before my bearded younger son was even born. This, I tell myself, is\u00a0the present.<\/em><\/p>\n

This year, I’m working at reflection. Not simply doing, but being fully present in the moment, whatever that means. Pain? I’ll breathe it in and do\u00a0tonglen.\u00a0<\/i>Joy? I’ll try (hard!) to live fully in it, knowing it will pass. Anger? I’ll try to use it — like a friend says — as compost, feeding productive action.<\/p>\n

Right now, that means noticing each ornament as I wrap it to put away. And wondering, again, where I will be in 12 months. In the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s something incredibly poignant about packing away the Christmas tree. Pulling off the ornaments — some so very old & fragile\u00a0the one I made with my mother when I was 6, the one I made w\/ my younger son when he was 6.\u00a0Wrapping them snugly in their tissue cocoons so they can be ready for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243,266,1138],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,1244,1248,148],"class_list":["post-11123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-living-in-the-moment","category-reflection","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-christmas","tag-living-in-the-moment","tag-reflection"],"yoast_head":"\nreflections in a Christmas ornament - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There's something incredibly poignant about packing away the Christmas tree. 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