Feeling Busy this Holiday Season?

At this time of year my friends tell me they feel scattered, busy, and overwhelmed by all that is on their plates. Many of us have holiday traditions that require preparation, on top of the usual business of repairing the furnace, putting snow tires on the car, doctor’s visits, meeting deadlines at work or school.

On top of these very real demands on our time, there are the urgent suggestions that come at us through the media. The whole world seems to have a lot of things I need to do right away, most of them involving my credit card. Economists and reporters call this “The holiday shopping season” because it accounts for between 20 to 40 percent of typical retailers' total annual sales. This time of year I get a staggering number of e-mails from retailers insisting that I “Shop now and save” alerting me to “One day only special offers” to “get them now before they are gone.

Let’s interrupt that. This season, this “dark of winter” is a time of emptying and letting go. The trees have dropped their leaves, and now we have a wide open view of the sky. In the Catholic tradition Advent is a time of emptiness, a time of waiting. In most Catholic churches the holiday trees and greens are not decorated until after the 4th Sunday in advent, when the time of spiritual preparation is complete and the time of celebration begins. For observant Catholics, waiting to welcome spiritual light of the Christ Child into the world, Advent is a time of “emptying ourselves of ourselves.” I think this is really important wisdom for Christian and non-Christian alike. Without a time of emptying, our spirits are too full to receive anything new. This year as our culture insists we fill up our time and our shopping carts and our homes, the spirit invites us to enter into a time of emptying.

Perhaps we keep so busy in these dark days because we know that emptying is not always comfortable. Sometimes when we are quiet and still our hearts fill up with concerns and feelings we have been too busy to feel. Sometimes we find ourselves shopping or working precisely because our hearts are so full. But if we can give ourselves some space to just be quiet and still, those worries and memories and feelings that rise to the surface of our attention often drift away, one by one, leaving us with more inner spaciousness if we meet them with a compassionate awareness, without grasping or pushing. The wisdom of the ages tells us that there is a value in our journey into the emptiness, into the darkness, because it empties us out for the returning light.

What would it mean to empty our hearts and minds during this darkest time of year, to make room for new gifts, new light, new growth? It takes intention to carve out a little time for our spirits in this busy season. Some of our traditions give us that time- reading holiday stories to a child, lighting a candle, gazing up at the night sky or falling snow. I invite you now to take a moment and consider the seasonal traditions of your family, your spirit, your community. Which of those traditions offer an opportunity for emptying yourself? Which traditions make you feel like a crowded parking lot? What is your inner wisdom inviting you to let go of to make room for whatever new light may be on the horizon?

As we wait in this darkest time of year, let us prepare room for something deeper, something more important than “the holiday shopping season.” Let us be grateful for the gaps and in-between times instead of rushing to fill them up. Let this be a season of emptying our hearts and minds -- a time of listening. May we make time for our deepest, truest self, open to the possibility that something new may enter in.