'Tis the season; a time when we can get lost in at all. Or be transported by it all. For many musicians (and folks in general), and certainly myself, a multitude of intensities can propel the season along. Or can leave one slouched over, feet dragging. I don't know, however, if I would have framed that as an either/or before this year's season; which, unarguably has been the busiest, professionally, and the most intense, personally. And it all leads me to stare, for long periods of time, at the picture above, with joy and peace in my heart. It's been a season, for me, to really zero on the meaning, or lack thereof, of things "good" or bad".

Individual experiences can easily (and, for some, reliably) become places to find oneself  stuck. Trapped, even. Or they can be portals, each one transporting us to a place beyond. And not a random or disconnected place, rather a "big picture" place, of which the experience you find yourself in is but a piece (as a jigsaw puzzle, perhaps) of a much larger context. And not considered as a piece of the bigger picture because its place in that picture is understood. In fact, exactly the opposite. It's a piece of the ever developing/ongoing story. A piece whose meaning is hidden in the white (or dark) space around it, isolated from other pieces of the story yet to be found, or experienced. 

Being in the moment with each experience, both (simultaneously) as a full participant, and as a observer, can keep our hands (and heart) clean, so to speak, and unattached to the chains around us, which are continually seeking the opportunity to glom on.  In each moment, in both the "good" and the "bad", there is (also) an invitation to gratitude. Gratitude is always there, holding out a hand to us, offering its companionship. Which may seem a ridiculous statement, until we allow ourselves to zoom out. Letting go of an(y) individual experience is not like a releasing a balloon that flies away, never to be seen again. Rather, it is unfastening the chain that would otherwise remain attached to us. And allowing that piece, not to disappear, but to find its place in that (yet to be revealed, or unveiled) "big picture". "All things work together ...". None of this is to minimize the complexities of our experiences. Rather, to remind us of the power, even the cosmic force of gratitude, and of trust. And there is no better time, than on Christmas, to ponder these things in our hearts.