Interfaith Spirit Quest

The Miracles of Christmas

The Miracles of Christmas is a plan to create a more meaningful Christmas and eliminate the over-commercialization of the holidays. This plan can also be used at other holidays and special celebrations.

Thanksgiving morning, November 25, 2009, our family came up with a new and meaningful way to celebrate Christmas.  After bringing it up and discussing it with my spouse over Thanksgiving breakfast, we decided we should discuss the idea with the rest of the family - they loved the idea!  The fact we all agreed that it was at least a good idea in theory, is a miracle in and of itself.   The idea is about making dreams and wishes come true, it’s about The Miracles of Christmas, and it might even make a Scrooge look forward to Christmas again.  Perhaps this will be your Christmas of the future.  Of course this theme may be used at other holidays such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, birthdays, you name it. 

The Miracles of Christmas is a new way to celebrate a more meaningful Christmas or other Holiday.  The idea is to allow one Christmas/Holiday wish per person and then to give that person the undivided attention and participation of the whole family or group for an allotted time period, agreed upon by all.  If you have a large family, you may wish or need to spread this out over a couple days, and if you have a small family; you may choose to allow more time for each person.  Alternatively, you may wish to choose 2 or 3 main activities that everyone agrees on.  Simplify the process a little bit if a lot of people are involved.  Every year will be different and memorable in its own way.  You can make this as easy or as elaborate as you wish. You create the guidelines.

Last year, I wrote three posts pertaining to the Miracles of Christmas.  These three posts explain the plan, offer up ideas, and tell the story of how it went for my family.  You can read all three posts here: 

See Part 1:  The Miracles of Christmas - The Plan

See Part 2:  58 Miracles of Christmas - Ideas to get you started

See Part 3:  After the Miracles of Christmas - Our personal story - how it went (published after Christmas)

Merry Christmas to you and yours, and may the spirit of the Miracles of Christmas be part of your holiday season now and forevermore. 

Interfaith Spirit Quest

Reflections on the 4 Agreements

Happy Thanksgiving!  We hope you enjoy the holiday, however you choose to spend it. Food, family, football, relaxing day off... We look forward to seeing you at our next meetup where we will continue our study of The Four Agreements and/or The Four Agreements/Companion Book, by Don Miguel Ruiz. The Four Agreements present a powerful code of conduct for attaining personal freedom and true happiness.   Visit the Interfaith Spirit Quest Meetup site for more details.

You can join in anytime - please read up through Chapter 4 of the Companion Book - or Chapter 3 of The Four Agreements book, depending on which book you might have, highlighting areas of interest as you go along. If you're not a big reader, just try to glance through the book and/or make yourself familiar with the 4 agreements.

REFLECTIONS on the 4 AGREEMENTS:
(From the Toltec Wisdom 4 Agreements Card Deck)

1. Be Impeccable with Your Word
Create a beautiful dream. Your word can create the most beautiful dream, or your word can destroy everything around you. Impeccability of the word only creates beauty, love, and heaven on earth.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally
See other people as they are. When you see other people as they are without taking it personally, you can never be hurt by what they say or do. Even if others lie to you, it is okay. They are lying to you because they are afraid you will discover that they are not perfect.

3. Don't Make Assumptions
Assume nothing. In any kind of relationship, we can make the assumption that others know what we think, and we don't have to say what we want. We assume they are going to do what we want because they know us so well. If they don't do what we want, we feel hurt and think, 'How could you do that? You should know.'

4. Always Do Your Best
Express your own divinity. You don't need the acceptance of others. You don't need knowledge or great philosophical concepts. You have the right to be you, and you express your own divinity by being alive and by loving yourself and others.

 

The Four Agreements with inspirational video

The Four Agreements  

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word  Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love. 

 

2. Don't Take Anything Personally  Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don't Make Assumptions  Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret. 

Book Discussion:  If you're in the Appleton - Fox Valley, Wisconsin area - please join our local Interfaith Spirit Quest Meetup group - we will be reading and implementing The Four Agreements as a group. 

Enjoy this inspirational video based on The Four Agreements, a book by Don Miguel Ruiz.