Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Yule, Kwanzaa, or Christmas, it is beginning to be that time of year. As usual, there are particular Christmas songs that I like to share because they are a little bit different than what people generally listen to. Sometimes I do a whole bunch of them on the same post, this year I think I’m gonna string them out a bit and start with just one. It is probably my all-time favorite.

if you can’t access the song through my blog, I’m sure you can find it on YouTube or Spotify or any of the music platforms. It’s called The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams.

Nijntje posted on one of her blogs today about setting an intention each month. I haven’t done intentions in a long time, but it feels like this might be a good time to start again.

Last year, I did have a Word of the Year. “Rooted” And I have managed to keep it in mind at least off and on for the whole year. I intended to focus more strongly on being rooted in myself, rather than looking externally to satisfy others expectations, or meet other people standards or even to rely on other people to help me feel OK about life.

That is not to say that I don’t still try to live up to other peoples expectations at least some of the time or that I’m not focused on pleasing others to some extent. I guess I always will. But I have done better about recognizing that the externals are not really what matters. It is really about looking inward and being guided by mysel. Which, if you know me at all, you know I’ve always done plenty of that too.

But focusing on being Rooted has led me to look more towards the light within me.

I’ve been working on having a solid meditation practice for years now. In the last few months, with the support of a meditation guide, I’ve been doing much better with my practice. Which is not to say there’s some external standard that I need to meet and I’m finally getting there. That’s how I had been approaching it. In fact, I’m learning that part of the point is truly in not striving. That’s been an unexpected life bonus and I’m enjoying my practice.

Finally (for today) I’m playing with a more sensual form of kink in my writing, and working on learning new ways of expressing myself that convey that. So I’m not thinking all vanilla thoughts all the time, thank goodness. But like with anything new, I have to allow myself time and space to explore and grow.

.