Happy Winter Solstice to all readers.  I hope you are filled with joy, light and peace as this holiday season commences.  Holidays.  Happy Holidays.  So much more, than just a greeting, and yet, some souls find ire in being greeted this way.  Happy Holidays.  A perfect greeting for this time of year when over 13 cultures celebrate something sacred to them.  The Jewish people find light and joy in Hanukkah, Christians find peace in Christmas, African Americans find unity in Kwanzaa and pagans find the Yule worth celebrating.  Holidays.  All of them.  Remember, Happy Holidays is a wonderful and appropriate greeting for this time of year to celebrate all peoples beliefs and traditions.   Be patient with others and see the true light in each soul.

Why do I bring that up?  Patience.  Understanding.  Celebrating the joy the holidays bring to each and every person.  Wishing someone "Happy Holidays" doesn't mean you are a bad Jew, Christian, Pagan or Buddhist.  It means you can see your fellow human and truly love that they too, are happy about the coming joyous times.  

"But Mike, if I say Merry Christmas to someone, they should reply, Merry Christmas!  I was at the grocery store and someone wished me Happy Holidays, so I said Merry Christmas, because that's "the reason for the season...""  Did it make you feel better doing that?  Is that what your Deity wants you to do, rather than extending joy and happiness to other sentient beings and the well wishes for them to express joy and gratitude?  Maybe you are completely "certain" that your belief set is true.  Maybe because of that, you can't look beyond it and be able to simply be happy for others who are also filled with love and joy at this time of the year?  Look inward.  Truly look at yourself in a mirror and ask that question.  Why?  What is stopping you from extending holiday greetings to others who are just as happy as you?  Maybe you already do this.  If so, fantastic!  May the joy and peace of the holiday season fill you with love and light.  

"So Mike, how does this relate to 2020 and what it taught you?"  Simple.  It taught me even more about patience.  During this pandemic, I found time to dive more into philosophy, Buddhism and how to relate with other humans who may think and believe differently.  It taught me that loving my fellow human is far more important than what they think and how they believe.  Seeing the manner in which humans acted towards each other during the Presidential election made me truly appreciate people who could carry on a patient and honest conversation without resorting to name calling or degrading attacks on each other.  Patience.  They say its a virtue, and I believe that fully.  

Patience can be exhibited in so many ways and can have a truly amazing impact on society as a whole.  This year, we as a society, spent a great deal of time in our own homes unable to do the things which bring us happiness.  This year, for me, began with the promise of being a year full of wonderful hikes, backpacking trips and outdoor photography including both portrait sessions and landscapes alike.  When the world as we knew it closed its doors due to the COVID-19 virus, everything ground to a halt.  We couldn't simply go to the gym, to our favorite stores, to the Buddhist Temple or church we frequent, to be able to have a drink with a friend at a local establishment.  We were forced into a more patient mindset.  

Now, I am not saying that patience is an easy thing.  It is not.  It takes work.  It takes understanding.  It takes time over all things.  We may feel in our heart of hearts strongly about something and understand that waiting is not only the best thing for us, but for society and others as well.  In my personal thoughts and beliefs, I know my soul has been here before.  Many times.  And, it will continue to come here many more times until I am able to learn the lessons I am to learn and then ascend to a soul who can teach younger souls about life and patience.  There is that word again.  Patience.  It has applications in so many different realms.  Even the ethereal.  

I won't belabor this point.  After all, it is the holiday season and people's patience is running thin.  I thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you give it a good, hard and thorough thought.  Remember the next time someone wishes you "Happy Holidays" that they are doing it in a respectful manner and full of light and good tidings.  Remember patience with your fellow human when you see something outlandish posted on a social network you don't agree with.  Will your comment truly be helpful?  Remember that as you stand in line to purchase whatever gift you are buying that someone else likely lacks the resources to purchase that same gift.  Remember, there are others out there who are under stress and pain and that a simple smile (even under your mask) is still and always will be, the best way to greet someone.  

Patience.  

Every night always sheds its darkness to reveal the morning.  We must simply wait patiently for those morning rays of golden sun to bring illumination and sometimes, enlightenment, to our world.  Happy Holidays to you, friends.  May your days be merry, bright and full of warmth.  

“Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures, kill nothing but time.”
 

Namaste, friends.