During the busy holiday season, we all need to relax, to unwind, to have a space of renewal amidst the never ending hubbub. We have holiday visitors and Christmas potlucks. Some of us do Christmas ornament of cookie exchanges, some are into Secret Santas... over and over we are compelled during the holidays to do more.
I realized today I could offer a simple and sublime gift to you this holiday season: a brief moment of sharing my recent experience, over Thanksgiving, at Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire.
One would think with a three hour time difference I would sleep in and go to bed late.
The contrary has happened since I have been in New Hampshire, though, and I think this morning I discovered why.
I rested against my plentiful pillows and watched out the glass door as the glorious full moon began her descent. It was a slow, languid process and my eyes were keenly focused on the light she offered into my curious, slightly smiling face.
“Wait – I am a lover of sunsets,” I reviewed to myself in my mind. “How can it be that this moon set is so powerful and poignant?” The pull to watch it is so strong the beauty wakes me. There is a clarion call to presence, to attention, to being fully aware of what surrounds us in the quiet.
I found myself entering into a meditative prayer state as I listened to the wind blow and what sounded like a small animal dining on something in the shimmering moonlight next to my window. I prayed for my friend who had recently suffered a horrible loss, I prayed for my children who are at transitional, tenuous times of their lives. I prayed for my friend who moved to Seattle during the year and had succeeded in following her dreams – and still, transition, transition, transition seemed to dominate my thought processes as I watched the moon gently move across the sky.
I was reminded of changes in perspective and relationship. Here I was, across the continent from where I usually am. I was sleeping in a different bed yet sharing a home with most of my children. Beyunca and Jaxon live near here, so I had spent the last couple days with them as well as with Katherine and Emma who live on this coast now. My perspective as a mother and a woman has changed. I have a teen son. We talk about serious and seriously funny topics. He uses words I have barely learned and enjoys relating to his sisters as a near-adult, too.
The moon reminded me to not take moments like this for granted and at the same time, not hover or worry or fret that a moment separate from my children is a moment well spent. Right now they are off shopping knowing full well I do not agree with the mass consumerism so much of this particular day stands for in the lives of many. It is perfectly fine for them to participate as it is fine for me to stay behind, to write, to take time out, to rejuvenate myself differently.
Space to be separate is as loving as space to be together. Sometimes, even moreso.
The moonset also reminded me to stay present to the beauty of what is in every day. The moonset happens daily, just like my beloved sunrise and my familiar sunset experience. Each, a miracle. Each an invitation to wonder.
At around 6:15 I noticed the sky getting lighter and noticed a slightly pink reflection off the water. I noticed the homes across the lake beginning to look more gold than invisible or white like I knew they would look later in the day.
On this particular day I fell back asleep for a couple hours. The pillows called to me this time. I responded, with gratitude.
Watch this two minute video created in the moment to "be there" as these first thoughts unfolded.
As we step into the full-force of the holidays, be open for moments like these to remind you to be present to every day beauty, wonder and optimistic reassurance that everything is better than just alright.
Everything is divine.
Everything is a gift with a sense of presence.
Everything calls you to choose light and love and hope.
Even those every day activities most people take for granted or don’t notice. Perhaps your job, like mine, is to notice and share with others so that they may see. This morning it was my friend Julia, who I knew would be awake on the West Coast, who suggested I share what I was seeing.
My morning time of presence reached into the hearts of others through this sharing. My hope – and intention – is the invitation stretched beyond the moment and into further moments in other lives, perhaps of people I don’t even know yet.
The experience invited me to be a witness and an active participant who created due to the beauty in front of me.
I gave of my experience and shared it with Julia, who was so moved, she asked me to post it to facebook so others could see, too.
I received the compliment and Julia’s idea and spread the experience for more people to share and experience with me.
Those who were moved received the initial experience and relived it through their lense.
The gift the moon gave me, which I was open to receive, has multiplied, naturally.
What may happen in your life if you re-created this same process of experience, receiving and giving again?
- Receive an experience from nature, God, the Universe.
- Share that experience with another and listen for feedback. Receive whatever comes, even if that whatever is silence.
- Share again. Multiply the giving and receiving and multiply awareness and abundance as a natural reward. It is actually simply a way of being – giving and receiving effortlessly – that invites an attitude of prosperity into our consciousness.
It is actually simply a way of being – giving and receiving effortlessly – that invites an attitude of prosperity into our consciousness.
Sounds mighty fine, doesn’t it?
=====
Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world. She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in Fall, 2015 and beyond.
To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 
661.444.2735.
Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.
Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: and on Periscope for writing prompt, tips and inspiration daily created to ignite your artistic rebirth.
Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)
Follow on Instagram And naturally, on Pinterest, too! © 2015
Recent Comments