The Gift of Consistency
This past week I found myself stalking the full moon. As I was walking our dog by the water’s edge enjoying the sunset, the exquisite full moon was rising. Witnessing these two predicable earth events was so grounding, especially with so many other changes happening in the world.
As our family is preparing for Christmas, I find myself appreciating the power of tradition and consistency more than usual. I remember when we first moved to California, and spent our first Christmas in our new home with our precious toddler and newborn baby.
On one hand, it was so sweet to be just with our little family of four. On the other hand, we felt untethered from our large extended families, communities and the traditions of our east coast lives. We were still figuring out who we were in that moment and what we were going to lean on for support.
What ultimately helped us was creating new traditions –peaceful predictability that was of our own choosing. Some of our holiday traditions came from our own families, like trains around the Christmas tree, and lighting advent candles.
Others we created ourselves, like reading holiday stories by the fire, candy left by elves in advent boxes, setting new intentions and burning things we are ready to let go of on the night of the solstice, taking a lantern walk on Christmas Eve night, or making gingerbread houses (and eating them for breakfast on Christmas morning!).
Sometimes, the most important traditions aren’t the big ones that are visible to the outer world, but those small, everyday habits we have — calm, consistent, repetitive ways of relating with each other and the world that reflect what we value, and dictate who we are and what our lives become.
Just like holiday traditions, these everyday choices can become a source of strength or feel uninspired, depending on how willing we are to tune into who we really are, what we really need, and to let them evolve.
When we are at a turning point, and the world around us feels unpredictable, there is also a greater consistency that grounds us, no matter what. The sun always rises and sets. The moon disappears then becomes full again. Within our hearts, we have a small, still voice, encouraging us to take small repetitive actions that we can lean on for support.
Whether nature’s predictable cycles or those habitual actions we each consciously choose (like during Flow Challenges!) — the more we accept the gift of consistency, the stronger we are when it’s time to take bold new leaps in the outer world.
