by Steffen Messerschmidt, ND, Brisbane, Australia
Over the years I have been observing the effects the ‘Silly Season’ has on our health. IT JUST DOES NOT MAKE SENSE TO ME – neither personally nor professionally.
It is supposedly the festival of Love – just for one day, but I see more unloving things and effects then, than at any other time of the year. So this is what I see every year – year after year – and nothing is changing!
Here is a look at my own Christmas beliefs from the past to present:
As a child, I thought Christmas was a magical time – growing up in New York there were tons of lights, decorations and everybody around me made an effort to be nice to me. Well it took me a while, as a child, to realize that the Santa Claus thing was fake and mostly everything was just put on and a show.
I also loved the Christmas decorations as a child and this carried into adulthood. My home and the clinic always had lots of decorations and glamour until a few years ago.
As a child, I visited the ‘real’ Santa in upstate New York, where they had created a North Pole village and Santa was an old man with a real beard, not the fake ones from the shopping centres – those guys were just Santa’s helpers because he was too busy preparing for the 25th there was no way he could hang around in every shopping centre!
As a practitioner I saw all the things listed below, but it took me a while to let go of the ideals & beliefs I still held about Christmas.
It doesn’t make sense to me now that we need a day to be nice to each other and have fun getting together – that can happen any day.
Today I see it as a time of the year to enjoy summer and meet with friends and to have a short break if possible, as it is a very busy time of the year for anybody involved in health care.
Now here are my observations as a practitioner:
Before X-Mas:
– Stress to get work ready and all done before the holiday
– Stress to get all presents and organized for that one day
– Stress on someone in the family (mostly mum) to cook & bake for it all
– Stress if there is no family to stress about
– Stress because we are sleeping less and not recovering due to lots of social, work and family events
– Madness in Christmas shopping to find the perfect gifts for our ‘loved ones’
– People already get tired and lethargic in the process leading up to X-mas and that just accumulates when they actually make it to X-mas and New Year
At X-Mas:
– One day or let’s say two or three (Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Year’s) of total indulgence, disregard and accumulation of unloving choices
– Eat too much unhealthy food and for some, even too much healthy food
– Drink too much
– Get emotional and stuff comes up that was not addressed the whole year because family members did not all meet up and now, as they all are together, stuff that was unresolved bubbles up
– Discussions flare up – often made worse because of the effects of alcohol
– Emotions, anxiety, depression increase – also for the ones who do not have a family to get together
– Increase of domestic violence, suicides and mental health issues
After X-Mas – this lasts way into late January and beyond:
– Feeling bloated, lethargic, nausea, no energy, put on weight and symptoms flare up again …
– Patients with chronic disease, cancer or auto-immune disease, who are going well before Christmas and are symptom-free and on maintenance programmes, go off them and trigger their symptoms – they decide to eat just this piece of cheesecake, drink alcohol for New Year’s or smoke a couple of cigarettes …because it is ‘tradition’
– Blood sugar levels which were under control before X-mas go up because they ate too much or chose the wrong foods.
– New Year’s resolutions –are to get healthy and work hard to reverse all the damage done over X-mas and New Year. Yet…..the following year we go and do it all again … !
I am sure you get the picture by now. This list has just some examples; however it could go on and fill a book.
I am sure every practitioner would be able to share the same experience. To me all this seems really not worth it, so I would rather recommend living each day lovingly without all the punishment we inflict on ourselves – this would be like Christmas every day and a true festival of Love.
It totally makes sense why we call it the ‘Silly Season’, because we put in so much extra effort to treat ourselves in such an unloving way. What else other than ‘silly’ could we call this?
Medicine and Serge Benhayon 
OMG I am sooooo over Christmas shopping!!!! Everyone has blinkers on trying to find the ‘perfect’ gift, is super stressed, and overspending and just not enjoying it! Like why do we do it?! What if one year the whole world went: we are not going to do presents, we are going to instead look after ourselves and rest when needed and connect with our loved ones and everyone … no gift involved … well actually looking after ourselves and truly connecting with others without having a package with a big bow on it would be a pretty awesome gift, as shared in this blog here the gift of self-care: http://www.unimedliving.com/self-care/everyday-self-care/self-care-the-gift-of-you.html
Christmas does seem to be the season for throwing caution to the wind and going for it, be it overeating, drinking too much and then the rollercoaster of the New Year’s resolutions. When I drank alcohol, I used to have this dread of Christmas because of all the parties I felt obliged to go to and would drink too much and then be sick for days afterwards. Why is it that we feel like we have to go to the works Christmas party or feel like we are missing out or are different in some way if we don’t go. I used to feel like I didn’t want to go but would get swept away with the excitement of others who were looking forward to it and every year I would end up going.
I can remember when I was loving the festive time in the way it has been described all the delicious food, too much of it, all the tasty wines, too much of it, all the silliness that came with it all. However I got to a point when feeling rubbish at the end of it, and how really it was only highlighted at this time of year and then could see how I was doing this on a regular basis, just not so much in a short period of time.
I started to explore, thanks to hearing Serge Benhayon present, that are we truly loving and caring for ourselves like we know we truly want to. So one by one when I felt to I started to experiment and see how I felt if I didn’t drink alcohol, take drugs, eat foods that weren’t supporting my body. Now today I feel like a totally different person and I feel more me than ever before.
Very accurate observations. And I can feel how so much effort is being put into the whole thing and its entire purpose feels like a set up to stress ourselves out even more than usual, and somehow we are needing that intensity and distraction, because our ‘normal’ everyday life is just so unbearable.
What I love most about Christmas now is being with family and friends no lavish gifts or food, just a time to share being together, and appreciating what we all bring when we are just being ourselves.
I used to hate when winter came, mainly because it was so cold, I now embrace winter why – because I look after myself so much more, I make sure I am wearing the right clothes, I wear thermals, I keep the house a warm temperature and I now have a car which has a heater.
When we don’t look after ourselves winter and the silly season can have a much more negative impact.
Yes when you put it like that I can see how we do put a lot of effort into putting ourselves under pressure and stress both physically and emotionally at Christmas which does not make a lot of sense especially when the end of the year could be an opportunity to reflect, recover, rebuild and rest to prepare for the next year.
Great expose Steffen, I would love to hear your blog read out aloud at the many Christmas services that take place – that would give us all something to truly reflect on.
Christmas is commonly a time for people to let loose in terms of diet and overeat, as well as use unhealthy foods and drinks as a feeling of reward. It’s definitely a time of temptations with food and then the ubiquitous New Years Resolutions to try to put it right by losing weight and getting healthy. I used to do these same things and found some elements of Christmas I really enjoyed but as an adult it was definitely a stressful time especially if cooking was a part of my responsibilities. Since I have learned about self care by listening to and respecting my body what I really enjoy is the way I feel from making choices that are really supportive, there is truly nothing greater than feeling connected to myself and inhabiting a body that is being cared for.
It does take a while to unravel the hold that Christmas has on us, I have been doing that over the past few years and I am enjoying being freer of its hold. I am more free to choose what I want to do to than to do what is expected (either by me or others).
Just looking at the list associated with the Christmas stress is enough to know that it is not healthy for us! We gave it all up about twelve years ago and have never looked back – letting go of the Christmas hype and the stress was a great decision for our health.
The stress of Christmas underlies the extraordinary illusion that society lives in… The plethora of advertising and what we are sold as the Christmas spirit… Well it certainly is that.
Christmas and New Year is a bit like a larger macro cycle of what we do to ourselves every day, we think nothing of harming ourselves with food by eating what isn’t truly nourishing or over-eating or drinking alcohol, then we resolve to clean our act up or try a different way and this cycle goes on and on until we stop and reintroduce the absolute care for ourselves back into our lives. Then Christmas, like any day, is an opportunity to be deeply caring, to regenerate and refresh ourselves ready for a new year of opportunities.
Interestingly we have had a long spell of unprecedented hot weather here in the UK this summer, and I have heard several people talk during these summer months of the ‘silly season’. There is certainly an air of people letting their hair down, gaining a false kind of confidence in their general behaviour, with the consumption of alcohol increasing as the sun is shining and there is a feeling of being in ‘holiday mode’. But is it more that this ‘silly season’ is becoming the norm, as it infiltrates into people’s lives during the days weeks months either side of Christmas, so it eventually becomes a continuum rather than happening just once a year?
There is an beauty in the expose of the silly season, as it shows us that we are beyond what we live and that we have put pressure and enormous effort on who we are not. Simply Christmas for example is totally if not fully extracted from what Christ means, and the actual reminder we can use this for to live Christ (which simply means love/brotherhood) on earth every single day !
There were companies sending out suggestions for Christmas a week or so ago and it was only July…Christmas being in December. I agree with Steffen. There is far too much hype. The same is happening in the UK with Halloween and to a lesser extent with Easter but we have created Black Tuesday, another day to get wound up about…. and just about every day has a cause attached to it now. Amazing it is that we want to make complex a life that could be so simple and have space in it for so much more enjoyment.
The level of stress that the general way people experience Christmas is ludicrous … I used to be like that getting all caught up with the momentum of how things should be. Saying no to that and keeping in check to what it is I feel like doing with the ones I love has been an a deeper and more genuine celebration together.
A hugely important part of this article is when you highlight the belief that ‘tradition’ is something worth discarding self-caring activities and choices for, even if this means a recurrence of chronic illness as a result.
I’ve noticed something in our family recently. We used to only get everyone together and all cook together at Christmas – it was a big event – but recently i am seeing how we will come together with friends and family and all help and contribute – and it feels like a beautiful sharing all the time not just once a year. Christmas therefore does not have the same huge importance – it just becomes another day of coming together.
It is interesting and something I was very much part of that we make ‘special’ times of the years to go crazy with the food, drink, staying up…Christmas is a great example of this, where we have time off, but we blow it by getting exhausting and indulging, and so when January comes we feel so tired, ill and bloated. This time of year can be for reflection, nurturing, rest and catching up with people in our lives, without the big time indulgence. I am feeling well from making the choice to not join in with such a harmful societal habit, we may think it is normal, but seriously, we do not need to make harmful and unsupportive activities normal.
You could almost apply this to everyday – we put an incredible amount of effort into making our lives unloving, we leave late for work so we have to rush, we get stressed, overwhelmed, emotional daily about what occurs in our lives, we fight, cause problems in our relationships. Now imagine that much effort put into making sure our lives were loving, committed and nurturing.
We stress ourselves out by trying to achieve what we have set up in our mind to be the perfect picture of Christmas and then suffer at the hands of our own illusion.
When it is spelt out like this it certainly raises the question of what the point is to celebrating Christmas in this way, and would you really call this a celebration? As the true meaning of celebrating is to come together in honor of the glory of that which is lived and that which is true, as a marker of a foundation of love from which we can continue to grow and evolve. As with this we come together to claim, confirm and celebrate the greatness of love that we all are here to live every day. And as you shared – ‘this would be like Christmas every day and a true festival of Love.’ – in which no effort is required in preparation as this already is a way of living.
You make it so clear how stress is a choice of indulgence. It is interesting how we meticulously set things up to fulfill a preconceived pattern of reaction.
We can take on so many expectations of what Christmas should be like and what we should do and yet all the time the inner heart and our bodies know true joy and celebration in living who we truly are.
Interesting that even the term “Silly Season” is a downplay on what currently goes on at Christmas. Silly comes across as something that is a bit of harmless fun, but we need to ask ourselves is this is true? What we do to ourselves before and after Christmas, not ignoring Christmas day itself needs to be seriously examined and questioned as to its effects on our wellbeing.
Imagine if we took what we did to our health at Christmas (ie overeating, disregard, indulgence, bloating, tiredness etc etc) and we reversed it and did the opposite – so we took amazing care of our bodies, we nurtured and rested and prepared for the new work year so we could return after the holidays refreshed and revitalised and ready to take things to the next level.
” It totally makes sense why we call it the ‘Silly Season’, because we put in so much extra effort to treat ourselves in such an unloving way. What else other than ‘silly’ could we call this? ”
This is true but perhaps there is more to it perhaps keeping ourselves silly is a form of distraction from what and who we are.
When taken out of context it becomes easy and clear to see why putting so much emphasis on one day is literally just plain ‘silly’. Interesting that this day that we call Christmas has become so out of proportion to every other day of the year, and the emphasis is so often the opposite to what it is supposed to be about, and that is love and sharing with each other.
The way people abuse their bodies over the ‘festive season’ is crazy, and many see this as totally ‘normal’ and don’t blink an eyelid at the disregard they inflict on their bodies. I am noticing more and more that this type of silly behaviour is extending beyond Christmas in many parts of the world at music festivals, sports events, Easter, etc as people are using these times to further abuse and harm their bodies. One has to ask what is truly going on that so may people want to escape and indulge in such harmful behaviours?
It feels we are kidding ourselves at our own detriment when we supposedly commit to a ‘healthy’ lifestyle and then throw it all away at Christmas time. It shows that our commitment whilst earnest may not be entirely true go our body and that we have not truly dealt with the issues at play
Labelling Christmas the ‘Silly Season’ feels like a tacit acknowledgment of the fact that we seem to lose all reason at this time of year and make choices that are even more detrimental to our health than normally. The fact that so often we repeat this year after year just shows how unwilling we are to recognise our patterns and make changes that would be beneficial. Having been ill over much of the last few weeks has given me the opportunity to expose where I am still invested in being part of this mad ‘merry-go-round’ and where I will be making different choices next time.
Yes before we call a period fun or successful we have to look at every-thing and every-part of us and our surroundings and how they are before and after that period.
There’s a serious mismatch between what we think Christmas represents and it’s true effects. As a practitioner you clearly got to see this disparity at first-hand Steffen. Your words here suggest to me that this disconnect is not ‘just for Christmas’ but is something actually, we have going on all the time. Today’s as good as any to give ourselves the gift of being truthful and honest about what we are putting out.
All of the hype and excitement around xmas makes us so dizzy from all the feelings of having to do this or that to please. We have misinterpreted the meaning of togetherness and community which is really what xmas is all about.
‘Love – just for one day’ to me this is not just silly but completely crazy and sad that we make one (or two if you include Valentines day) a day about love. What about the other 363??!!!!
Working in a corporate environment (in hospitality) customers are not like tourists who can in my experience be open to a chat. They come for business meetings that are super serious. However mention xmas and there is a massive change and they are more open to chatting. It’s a great reflection for myself to look at – do I need an outside situation to occur in order to open up when it is actually pretty simple?
Great observation Leigh….and one that has me powering too.
Christmas has a huge effect on people, I remember my brother telling me he had two Christmas dinners on Christmas Day, so as not to disappoint either his parents or his parents in law, he had indigestion on Boxing Day, which was a great example for me of how we give our power away to please others, rather than being honest.
I love how ridiculous it all looks on paper. We never talk about just how silly we can actually be, all in the name of fun and tradition. I once had to tell some ‘in law’ family members that as my partner and I lived in a dry house, we weren’t comfortable with them bringing their favourite Xmas drink. It was quite a difficult concept for them to understand as the tight grip they had on this one tradition was so ingrained that they felt as though they were going to miss out on a connection between themselves because they didn’t have the drink to connect them. But, this is how it is for so many families. People don’t like to break away from tradition, even if it means it might actually allow you the space to come closer together and just enjoy each others company without the indulgence.
You know, I have to say I have considered this with a fresh light – it is the silly season isn’t it?! We do such silly things that harm ourselves others and our bodies when we see it as a time of indulgence rather than a time of reflection and connection. This year I will make more space for that and see it as a foundation for coming months…years… 🙂
Something I have begun observing for myself in relation to Christmas is in particular how I am being with my body and how I have already chosen to eat foods that I know don’t support my body. There is a very insidious indulgence energy in the air that I have allowed in to affect my choices. Very quickly my body is showing me that indulgence is not its true nature. Steady, constant, true care is. So a very clear learning for me is to allow myself to feel the energy of indulgence, but to not bring indulge in it..
Yes I noticed this too Leigh, I was drawn to eat plum pudding at my workplace. I only had 3 sultanas that were winking at me from the plate but I had a desire in me to eat a whole piece…what is going on? I could feel this energy it is thick and cloying and very seductive and it was as if tentacles were coming to engulf me but I escaped, just. I know if I succumbed to the indulgences that abound at this time of year I would be very sick, dulled and heavy. It is just not worth it.
I love these words Leigh “Steady, constant, true care”, beautiful.
Very interesting that just one day in a year can be a trigger to so many things – the excitement, the stress, the increased level of disregard, the need/desire for being nice to each other etc. etc. It really makes us question how we are living the rest of the year to have that avalanche of stress every year, doesn’t it?
As we approach December this sense of excitement and over indulgence is already in the air and has been building since the beginning of October in some shops. It is incredible how much pressure we put upon our selves, and how much it is encouraged and enticed from the retail industry and elsewhere, to build up the anticipation and expectations of just one day. How much more loving and true would it be if we were to make everyday a day when we fully appreciated someone for who they are, and not just wait until Christmas.
Oh wow this is so true, and it is that time of year and the silly season is fast approaching! This year in my home town some shops were advertising Christmas in summer!
Every day is an absolute blessing – what a waste to wait for just one day of the year.
It is ludicrous how we can abandon ourselves in the lead up to Christmas and abuse the body in a way that we wouldn’t normally. Taking part in it as a way of a habit as this is what happens every year. To clock this and be able to say no to all the things we truly know are not great for us is what I have come to understand essential and no other way to live.
This really exposes how the non-silly way is to live a loving and joyful life consistently and not make it all about one day as that clearly does not work.
We seem to have a knack to compartmentalise events into one day. Christmas is top of the tree so to speak followed by New Year’s Eve, then to express love to others for a day in February. Then we celebrated his birth, so it is a day for his death on Easter. In different countries we find other things to honour to ensure we have some extra days off with pay. Why not honour everything every day?
When I read through the list of behaviours that has become the norm at Christmas time it occurs to me that it is all designed to be avoiding something. What could we be avoiding? Could it be the stop and the end of a year and the reflection and honesty that this brings us?
There is such an irony in the way that we put so much emphasis on this time of year, that is supposed to be about family and friends coming together and celebrating each other, but that so often turns out to be the complete opposite. You have totally exposed it all here Steffen. Thankyou for bringing such common sense to this very over-rated topic.
Imagine if for the whole Christmas season we blessed ourselves with the commitment to deepen our appreciation and love our bodies – I have a feeling it would be so much more powerful than any new year’s resolution we can ever create.
It’s incredibly ridiculous to put so much pressure on ourselves in the name of love, family and celebration. It’s the complete opposite to all we are trying to achieve at that time of year. If one stopped to ponder on this many more question would arise.
I still have a romantic concept about Christmas, I was not raised to buy into it all. Mum and Dad were open with the fact there was no Santa from the beginning but I remember my parents telling me a story of the real Saint Nic. That he was a giver but a very real and normal man, with no sleigh or reindeer, but he would help poor children out with items they needed. Saint Nic was known for his green and white attire, not red and white, it was Coke that changed his colours for marketing and cross promotional reasoning. One-year Mum painted a Sun in place of a tree but we complained about no tree so the next year Dad put a gumtree up. My parents would share that a white Christmas was just American propaganda to promote mass consumerism and they were right but still I was able to cling on to what I thought Christmas offered. I never really considered its impacts from a health care perspective. I think what I love, loved about it, was that it was people all over the world all making an effort to see their family and connect. All of your points are so valid though, I just love the idea that for at least one day we can drop our differences and share a meal, some laughter and songs. The problem is, we are not truly connecting, we are eating and drinking food that disconnects us from our body and there fore, from each other.
I agree with the coming together, enjoying not only a meal but the company of those we live with, not necessarily those that we share a home with because I’ve been to friends/ex-partners or had people I’d never met before next to me at Xmas. But as I and my immediate family live more lovingly with ourselves when we do come together it is like xmas where we are with each other, regardless of the day or season.
It is complete illusion that just because of ‘festive season’, occasion or celebration it doesn’t matter what we do, how we behave or what we eat or drink. It is just total indulgence really .. only to then feel completely rubbish about 1 week later. When I was younger I used to think Christmas was a magical time and in some ways I still do like it because of the lights everywhere in the winter nights and people seem to make a bit more of an effort to see each other; but every day should be about Love not just a few days in the year!
There is always a catch up with the body when one choose to use ‘festive season’ as the reason why one can live less of the natural health and well being that radiates from within.
The things we do so that we fit in and do what the masses are doing, and also there’s that feeling of excitement because we are going to get something. It’s no wonder we then have to feel the emptiness when it’s all over. I remember someone saying to me quite some time ago, that their life had no meaning, they didn’t enjoy their job and so on, then they said, oh well, it will be xmas soon so that’s something to look forward to, a bit of excitement. This made me feel really sad because I could feel how trapped they were inside, only seeing their life from a feeling of no love or joy.
Yes, it is true, we look forward to things and pretend reality isn’t reality. I know that January is a hard time for many around the world, perhaps it is related to the illusion of a New Year’s resolution that, if you wobble or perhaps ‘fail’ then adds to the list of things that haven’t worked and so the self beat up starts again.
The fact that Christmas increases DV, suicides and mental health issues says it all really. The money spent at this time of year to make people seemingly feel good for one day, is not worth it if this is the fall out and surely could be better spent elsewhere to support these issues. The truly sad thing about it however, is that regardless of the harm caused, like that exposed by your list, we just keep doing it again over and over, making you wonder how bad things have to be before we stop and ask if the way we approach Christmas is really good for our health.
When it is spelt out as clearly as this , it really is a silly season !
I love the connection you’ve made to the phrase ‘silly season’. It’s spot on! I would go so far as to call it something a lot worse, but silly is a gentle way of describing the mayhem December 25 creates. When you see it all written down like this you wonder what on earth we are thinking.
When you break it down into all the different ways we abuse ourselves across the festive season you are absolutely right it makes no sense, why would we ever put so much effort into not loving ourselves… and… imagine what could be possible if we put that much effort INTO loving ourselves and making our life about commitment and maximising our potential, speaking the truth and always giving one billion percent.
If you ask people what they want for Christmas or the New Year, how many would come up with the crazy list in this blog? Yet these are exactly what most of us do face year after year. If we only stopped once in a while and reflected on what life is reflecting as this blog invites us to do, we would naturally abandon so much of what we engage in that very clearly is not contributing to our experience of a vital, healthy, joyful and loving life.
It is an unusual name for a season, we have summer, autumn, winter and spring as seasons that I know of and yes the ‘silly season’ is in among them. We all know how it goes and yet few of us actually slow down and take note that this doesn’t support us year after year. Most of us need a break from having a break around this time. There is such an intensity, a build up and pressure around this time of year that it really hits people. The years seem to be running by faster and faster, perhaps we all need to slow down a little and bring this back. What do we really want from this part of the calendar? Maybe it’s time to change how this is for us all and do or live something that supports us and doesn’t wipe us out.
When it is spelt out like this… It really is very exposing isn’t it… That whole cultures could be caught up in an illusion that serves no one.
Christmas is one of the all time stress seasons, we become so stressed with work before the holiday break, with the preparations of Christmas and by the time it comes around we are literally too exhausted to enjoy the time we have with our family and friends, and by way of compensation we overeat and drink too much. Why are we not asking ourselves why we do everything to excess.
This highlights to me how dictated we are by societal beliefs in order for us to feel like we belong, to avoid the emptiness we feel, including our reaction to it. Yet all the while we already in fact do belong to something far greater than the illusion of what this one day, Christmas, supposedly offers. We are already united by a quality the resides within each and every one of us, and when this love is connected to we can live this every day. We belong to a Brotherhood, through our connection to love, that is our natural way of being. A day like Christmas can then be celebrated as a great marker, a day for reflecting on this quality lived throughout the year, how more of this loving quality can be lived in the year to come and confirming the love we are through a shared meal and conversation with family and friends.
Loved reading this today Steffen. It’s so true that we bring so much stress and it’s consequences over the Christmas period all for the sake of …what? A supposed love filled day/s with family and/or friends? Let’s have true love and have it every day, it is our choice after all.
It really doesn’t make sense that we put so much time and effort into one week or less of the year, when if we focused on each day being a celebration of life we wouldn’t need to blow out and indulge because we feel we deserve it because life is such a struggle. But who is denying us feeling joy every day? It’s just ourselves, so we can also turn this around and choose to celebrate love and family everyday.
You really capture the craziness, the extreme and the pressure of it, and how we’re trapped in that (if we choose it.) and that in fact we abandon ourselves and often what we know is true to somehow be part of something that is not ‘good’ for us.
In my experience we don’t even end up being “nice” and “loving” on Christmas Day as usually everyone’s drunk, bloated and grump by 2pm!
Very silly all the exhausting preparations we make to abuse ourselves over the Christmas and New Year excesses.
When we step back and take a look at what goes on, especially if we consider what the body has to cope with, there is no other word but silly.
It doesn’t make sense to get ourselves so stressed before we have a few days off, and then go on to continue the stress, no wonder so many relationships break up during this period. I have found it is far more loving to take things gently and enjoy being together sharing a meal without any of the commercial hype or outside pressure, it is definitely an opportunity to connect and reconnect with people.
It sure is a silly season, we have lost the true purpose of it. Time to spend loving valuable time with family and friends. I absolutely agree why make all that effort for one day, we should live every day in a loving way with everyone, then every day is joyous and full of love.
Seen like this, the ‘silly’ season simply sounds like an opportunity to indulge – in food, drink, drama, emotions and over-work. An opportunity for socially sanctioned irresponsibility, to be repeated at will on other ‘festive’ days throughout the year, with less emphasis on these occasions perhaps on family. How much more beautiful to live each day evenly and joyously, with 100% respect for ourselves and others.
Could the ‘silly season’ become a saying of the past as our worldwide levels of harming behaviours are dramatic increasing and are no longer set to specific times of the year?
Yes I suspect so, not just a ‘silly season’ but a ‘silly life’. But the word silly really needs to ramped up – it’s altogether too frivolous when you consider the seriousness of what has been presented here.
It is true, for so many people this time of the year is to get out of control with food and drinking. It is really silly to say the least, I feel it is a great time to be together enjoying the love that is there to be celebrated with each other.
Every year I read this and I’m so glad that I have made and continue to make different choices every year to support me not to fall into the ‘silly season’ trap. I still get a leg caught now and then, because let’s face it, the pull to get sucked in is amazingly strong – super power strong, but thanks to my choices leading up to it, my strength in knowing I don’t deserve to put myself through that or those around me just keeps developing.
The thing is that we try to make it nice and perfect as we actually love being with each other, so we make it picture perfect to what we think that it would make us be closer, but all the while we keep ourselves busy and stressed which makes it even harder to connect and just be with each other, thus we consume food and drinks to compensate and take the edge off. And then we repeat. So an honest look at how we are going through and about life and where we are running in circles is very helpful to step out of the trod that we have succumbed to.
It’s funny what we call things without even taking a step back to realise what we are saying, ‘the silly season’ for example and as the blog is saying is telling us what we are walking into. The way people talk about it you can see that we are aware to some point of what is going on but we don’t take it the whole way, why? It’s now almost a throw away line, ‘silly season’ and we use it regularly but don’t really see. People have spoken for many years about the stress and what they do over this period and yet we don’t stop? Some would say this isn’t too intelligent and from what I see I would agree.
I fully agree that the name ‘silly season’ they have given to it suits very well as when you observe how inconsistent we behave ourselves because of the commonly held traditions and beliefs, no other word than silly season will tell us exactly what is actually taking place.
It’s like this time of year really highlights what happens when we don’t care for ourselves, hence the aftermath in January and beyond. But what if our year could relate to our day or week? Where are our ‘Christmas Moments’ then? when we let go and face the consequences afterwards. Over indulging and dropping in the care of ourselves in the name of tradition or the belief that this is just what you do at this time of year makes me wonder about the reasons why we abuse ourselves day to day with the notion that this is what we do in this moment? Why? do we really need to go down that road?
Spot on, Steffen. And the thing is, many of us do it year after year after year after year… we blame it on the family, the work, the tradition, the society… and forget that we do have a choice.
Sure we have a choice Fumiyo, and what I sense is that we all know that but for many it is quite a challenge to break out of the commonly held beliefs and traditions that comes with them. The opposing reaction that comes from the group you want to leave is unpredictable, very hard and real, all geared up to prevent us from making our own choices.
Christmas may be a magnification how we normally live with everything a bit more extreme. Does that highlight the issues that we have every day but that are not quite as obvious even though they may be the same?
Ah yes, here we are again, ‘the silly season’. It’s a time of year which coaxes us to change our usual behaviour, it’s a time of year that intensifies life, that asks us to focus intently on one or two days, to change our eating, drinking, socialising, shopping and work habits. This has a stressful effect on our bodies and the way we feel. I know that the more I just allow my usual rhythm to be my way over the Christmas period I can enjoy myself, family and friends and not feel overtaken by tiredness and the Christmas craziness.
So much is exposed in the behaviours, reactions and games people play at Christmas. So much is exposed in the way Humanity chooses to live and the ideals and beliefs around family that we are all willing to accept, even sweep under the rug for the sake of appearing ‘perfect’. I loved your comment – ‘ …. so I would rather recommend living each day lovingly without all the punishment we inflict on ourselves – this would be like Christmas every day and a true festival of Love’ – if this was the way we chose to live every day what a magical world it would be to live in. Thanks Steffen.
I agree, it can be a fraught time. I remember at age 16 how I got everything at Christmas I could have wanted and I still felt this void, this emptiness.
The abuse we put ourselves through during the Silly season is believed to be enjoyment under the prison of ideals and tradition. The way we are able to go through with it year after year is a clear indication of how we disregard what our bodies feel, that again, is a belief that this is just the way it is, as we refuse to be aware of what truth is and choose rather to suffer. That said, for many, standing up for what feels truthful and making choices from within is a big struggle as it would mean we have to let go of what we have believed all these years to be true, to come to the fact that we have been fooled.
Living each day lovingly is my choice rather than all the Christmas ‘silly-ness’.
Many events like Christmas have become very silly indeed, the over indulgence in chocolate at Easter and the crazy and sometimes frightening pranks at Halloween to name just a couple. Why cannot we just come together at these times and celebrate each other without all the hype and fancy trimmings?
“…living each day lovingly without all the punishment we inflict on ourselves – this would be like Christmas every day and a true festival of Love.”
Spot on Steffen. What if the true meaning of Christ-mas was to live the light of the Christ, the Soul’s light and love, everyday in every way? If this is so, then what we have created in its place is a very clever and deliberate distortion of this. We are ‘silly’ because we excuse our waywardness and do not take responsibility for it.
Thank you Liane, for highlighting the true meaning of Christmas and how far we are from embracing and living this grand love that is constantly being offered to us.
This time of year for me is when I stop, not do anything and enjoy myself with friends and family. Having days off is a great time to take stock and consolidate my year confirming my achievements and new found awareness, as well as my weaknesses. I really enjoy this time of year to have a break and nuture my body.
Perhaps we shouldn’t blame the silliness on the time of year but on the belief that having a good time involves making yourself unwell by the silly choices we so often make at Christmas time.
I actually wonder how many people consider that everything you have described above is actually an ongoing cycle/pattern…Most people I know look forward to this pattern, because society encourages it, society never stops and tells the true story of what is actually going, it just sells us a picture of the glamour of silly season. Why on earth do we choose to turn a blind eye to all that is going on.
Every time I read this I am reminded of just how RIDICULOUS we as a species can be….how unintelligent we can be. I absolutely agree with you Steffen, and I really would love to see this kind of article in the paper, or magazines leading up to Xmas…because, it’s early october now and the supermarket is already stocked with Xmas indulgence…
One of the very telling comments from Steffen is how people with illnesses are so influenced by this embedded ritual that they actually get sicker. Not really a cause to celebrate.
ha ha I love that, I never really looked in detail at the idea of the silly season but it’s true, I have spent way too many years being silly, making incredibly poor choices just because it is a particular time of year. I am so pleased I started living as if every day was as special as that time of year.
I am sure that at some point everyone clocks the craziness and negative effects that come as part and parcel of the silly season but it usually gets brushed aside and forgotten until another year rolls by and then, almost robotically, the same scenario is repeated. It is a sad indictment on humanity that in order to ‘play up’ we first have to ‘play down’ or ‘switch off’ our natural and universal intelligence. To truly celebrate all we have to do is simply turn our light on and shine brightly – like the stars we truly are!
I’ve been there done that Steffen for many Christmas times. I remember feeling completely pressured to have everything perfect – food, presents, house, children etc. that I was like raving stressed out woman before everyone arrived and then would snap on the ‘happy families’ and make it appear to be all fine… knowing full well the other family members arriving had the same play out before coming over. How crazy is that?! Every year I would say ‘I’m never doing that again’ or ‘Never doing it like that again’ but next Christmas would come around and the same pattern would play out. What really changed for me was when I realised I am, my family and everyone are so much more and mean so much more than any present or day can give… the simplicity of connecting and sharing a meal or time together is far more important than getting wrapped up in the picture of Christmas.
I always find it interesting how stressed people become in the lead up to Christmas. You can take any aspect of it – finding presents, organising food or even the finances of pulling it all off. For quite some time now I’ve chosen to not join in what I see as madness. As a young single mum on a budget I made the choice to not go into financial stress in order to please others. One Christmas I invited my family to my house and asked everyone to bring a plate. There was nothing but love from my family as would they really have wanted a present from me knowing my financial situation? In the lead up there was not an ounce of stress, my only perpetration was perhaps to clean the house. By the end of the day all the dishes were done and the house was back to normal. Everyone had a great day and it was a beautiful day together.
This just goes to show that we need not be swept up in the Christmas craze, that we don’t have to adhere to ‘tradition’ and in doing so find that life can be simpler and richer. More in line with the ‘spirit of christmas’ that gets sold to us, making this time about family and connecting to others without all the added bits between us.
There does seem to be a lot of pretending at Christmas for many, according to what people say to each other about how it is for them. It is rare that there is not any angst. No wonder we use food and drink to numb and obliterate what we are feeling.
Put a whole lot of people in a room who have a whole lot of history together (multi dynamics), pump them with alcohol and rich food, bring the pressure to be jolly and have a wonderful time cause it is once a year. Christmas -sounds like fun?
Your blog highlights loud and clear the value of consistency, and being loving with ourselves all year round. We often place emphasis on occasions, be they Christmas, Birthdays etc. but that’s missing the point, if we are lovingly living with ourselves then to celebrate those occasions we do not drop that loving care for ourselves, that’s our baseline – why would we do that? And yet as you and many of us have witnessed in others and ourselves we get caught in the image / ideal of how we think things should be and we drop our own commitment to ourselves, and this is indeed silly. As I write this, the question that arises is this – could it be that on those days I and all of us are being asked to celebrate us and build further on that loving commitment to ourselves and in doing so we break some of the ideas and pressures around Christmas that are held by society at large; the biggest one being that self care can be dropped? Why would we want to live in a way that is not loving on any day of the year? A question to consider and explore.
Another pre-Christmas happening I observe is conversations at work about the ‘festive’ season begin earlier and earlier. ‘What are you doing for Christmas?, Where shall we go for our Christmas lunch or the work Christmas party?’ We seem to spend an inordinate amount of time looking forward to it, taking our focus away from the present. No gift or event is truly worth separating ourselves from who we are in this way. Yes, things have to be planned, but there is a sense of longing for Christmas that takes us out of ourselves. Yet my experience is that the more we come home to ourselves, the better and the more we get that true essence of being love that we are perhaps longing for.
‘Well I wish it could be Christmas every day’ is a common refrain in the UK – often because the song is played very frequently. If we did actually live this way all the time we would very soon see why we could not maintain it – but perhaps as you suggest Steffen, there is an underlying truth that what we really seek in it is the feeling of greater love in our lives and this we can have every day, if we so choose.
There is so much stress around these days… it is a very telling window into our society today, that the so-called celebrations are simply stress days!
“It doesn’t make sense to me now that we need a day to be nice to each other and have fun getting together – that can happen any day.” So true Steffen – and often at Christmas there is so much heightened tension that people aren’t very nice to each other on that day anyway…..
I have noticed the silly season is the reaction to a frantic pace of the year and comes under the ideal of “work hard, play hard”, but under a longer cycle, the yearly one, rather than the usual daily or weekly one. Therefore, the intensity built up over the year being released in one or two days, is very intense and potentially very harming. The only true answer to this lifestyle choice is developing a more loving rhythm more consistently throughout the year, just like the answer to sleeping better is a more loving rhythm and wind down period each day.
A time of the year where we celebrate family and memories are overtaken by reactions and falling outs. Not quite the message of the Christmas season!
There are many things that don’t obviously make sense in this world. If we are to understand why they really occur, we will need to look further than that they simply don’t make sense. As we all know it doesn’t make sense, however, a good question to ask is why do we continue them if they don’t?
Stephen, you have meticulously described the Christmas season to a T. Every year it continues to attempt to surpass the previous one. How long can our body’s survive this escalating abuse of trying to be happy? On the subject of Sillyness and holidays, the next on the calendar follows on with the tradition, Valentine’s day. Why should we show our love just One day a year?
I have always loved Christmas, but what I have never loved nor understood was the incredible angst people went into before hand.
And in the ‘silly’ season, domestic violence soars, as society tries to deal with all the dysfunction that comes to the fore at this time.
Great blog Steffan, reflecting on how Christmas used to be or me with the over indulgence in food and the stress leading up to the day buying presents for people just because its Christmas as the expected tradition. These days Christmas is so different there is no fuss and indulgence, if I feel to buy someone a present I will if not I won’t, some years I do some years I don’t. I don’t give a present with the expectation I will be given one, that would be manipulation. Often throughout the year if I see something I feel to give to someone I buy it for them for no particular occasion. This way feels more loving both for myself and for others.
Another Christmas has come and gone and this year I think it was so much more frantic with gift buying seeming to start earlier and finish later. People say they don’t enjoy Christmas but I feel we do like to get caught up in the excitement of gift buying and being part of the crowd. Perhaps all the unpleasant events that have happened in the past year, especially the past few months people like to focus on something pleasant for a change. We may be looking for sugar coating reality with fantasy but most don’t know there is anything else to give them hope and joy in our future, or that we even have a future. sad but true. All we can do is lead by example. Thank you Steffen.
It’s just a few days to Christmas as I write this and the effects of the ‘silly season’ you describe Steffen are in full swing. It’s like we become fixated on a prize, yet totally forget the quality we are living in. As you say it’s meant to be a festival of Love. But stress and anxiety leave no room for a caring quality. Instead of rushing hither and thither, what would it be like for us all to stop and consider what love we actually live in life? This could be the greatest present we could give everyone in our life.
Steffen I have to admit that when I read this blog last time I was a little resistant because I was looking forward to Christmas with my family. I was trying to negotiate making Christmas food as healthy as possible and not be considered the party pooper. This year I feel differently.
Your blog is so true. I work near a place where Christmas party functions are on 5 or 6 times per day and all the workers are stressed and exhausted and the only way that people can relax and party after trying to finish ridiculous lists of what needs to be done by Christmas is to drink a lot of alcohol. The only way the staff can calm down at the end of their 10-14 hour shifts is to drink until they are numb.
I was wondering why I felt so tense until I realised that the tension in the city was affecting me. There is more road rage outside my shop in the season of goodwill to all men and everyone accepts this as a given.
So I decided not to take it on. To anyone who asks me, I say ‘I am staying calm for Christmas’ which they think is very funny. At the end of the day I am still smiling and relaxed and they remark on it. I am the only one in my building that doesn’t seem frazzled and struggling. I think I am the amongst the few not eating the extra food or being merry with alcohol. I can tell who the others are because their faces are bright and their eyes still light up.
So it is indeed crazy in this season of love, to do the absolute opposite to yourself. It is fair to take stock of another year over and to celebrate with your friends and family, but surely celebration should be truly that and not punishment.
Great blog Steffen. It’s coming up to the ‘silly season’ now and I can remember what it was like too. We can definitely make every day to be as special as Christmas day. Why wait until then to connect with our loved ones and treat each other lovingly, we can do this all year round?
What you have described here Steffen is sooooo accurate and exactly what the Christmas and New Year holidays are all about. As you have explained with such clarity, it just seems so ridiculous that that is what we choose to do. It doesn’t sound loving at all. There is a different way of being around this time of year. I make choices for myself to not get caught up in all the hoop-la, but to bring a steadiness and lightness to all that is unfolding. That is with my family, but also workplace and friends.
Indeed, ‘silly session’ is the right term for it. I know I used get so stressed with the emotions, I would get caught up in and then have blow out regarding food and drink, a free for all, but always on reflection remained unsatisfied. Life has a deeper meaning and purpose for me now, the ups the downs are not present. I have steady joy that is there what ever the time of year. Self care and responsibility in life is a joy that I carry with me throughout the year.
Wow Steffen thank You for expressing the truth here. It is so needed.
l agree Annie, we have a picture of how it should be and it never eventuates. So many unfulfilled expectations and disregard. We end up walking around frazzled, dazzed and disappointed. Frankly l am so over it! There is a better way. That’s my new choice. To live the love, communication and expression now and in everyday. No day should ever be more special than another for any reason.
Brilliant Stephan, all true for me. Way too much stress!
It’s great that families look forward to reconnecting, however its at great cost if the unresolved issues are triggered. l agree we need to make every day about loving communication not just one attempt at Christmas. However, l am so taken by the pretty baubles and lights of the Christmas tree. lt gets me every time. l do so enjoy the pretty lights, maybe a little too much. lt feels like a great escape from the stresses l feel in the atmosphere.
Steffen a cartoon book on everything you described Christmas to be would be an incredible book. As popular as it may be many people would enjoy reading it but not see the message the book was delivering. Many would still maintain their manic energy to get through yet another Christmas as for some it’s a tradition. Some people just can’t see the forest through the Christmas trees.
Yes Steffen, even when we promise ourselves we’ll “never do it again” I see it all start to happen again especially the last week before Christmas. Not enough gifts for the kids, special food we might miss etc. Maybe this year well be more loving to all including ourselves!. Maybe?
Awesome blog Steffen, yes the silly season it certainly is! Stress and anxiety rule the weeks before Xmas Day then fleeting moments of joy on the day especially if extended family can get together then emotions get the green light and it’s all on. The body then has to recover when it should be enjoying a relaxing holiday time. Re-learning to celebrate ourselves and each other on many days throughout the year and not making such a big deal out of one day feels way less silly and stressful.
It is crazy – so much tension, pressure an stress in the build up that we go into total self-abuse and then spends weeks and weeks trying to recover and promise not to do it quite the same again.
When we make anything ‘special’ and exclusive it seems to bring with it a quality of stress and a weight of anxiety in equal measure. This can apply to christmas, relationships jobs or romance. Living this way is truly silly Steffen, just as you say.
When we look at it this way ‘silly season’ has been going for all of human history. Now is a great time to take down the decorations and live differently.
Joseph your words ‘take down the decorations’ struck a chord with me. I have been silly about my belief in Christmas. I’ve made myself believe I don’t participate in Christmas anymore. I’ve made it a rule yet the truth is I still do celebrate Christmas – there, I’m being honest with myself. I buy presents for my family, I’m responsible for cooking the turkey and my lounge room has Christmas decorations in it – classy ones with no tinsel in sight. For myself and humanity to live differently we first have to be honest and accept we are giving energy to a lie. As I am apart of this, it stands to reason why I’m trying hard not to get carried away with spending too much money on gifts. If I am apart of the ‘Christmas Group’ then I am susceptible to all the energy that comes with it. Thank you for your words, they have allowed me to begin being honest which can allow change to happen. Maybe next year I’ll take down the decorations 🙂
Very true, Chris, especially about stressing our bodies with exercise … sometimes I see people completing their daily run in the street and it’s obvious that their bodies are not made for running and that it’s not a pleasure for them to be doing it. However to change the mindset can be a gradual process, it has been for me and as this article describes, also for Rachel: at http://www.unimedliving.com/exercise/Fitness/vitality/shock-i-achieved-a-high-level-of-fitness-with-gentleexercise.html
Over the last few years I’ve also been adjusting my exercise regime and can vouch for gentle exercise being such a delicious and effective way to care for my body.
There is an enormous amount of stress, as Steffen says, around a time that is meant to be for celebration… And this is quite telling isn’t it! In our endeavor to celebrate we become stressed; in our endeavor to be fit and healthy we stress our body; it seems that many of our endeavours do not serve us at all. It is definitely time to reconsider and redefine our awareness of life and to return to the true and deep celebration of connecting with ourselves and our inner parts… And this is definitely not dependent upon any day or date.
Steffen with the season coming around once again I am surprised how much stress this puts everyone under. In our office the team are often worried about what to get their kids, how they will pay for everything – some of them have packed their evenings and weekends with extra working shifts so they can earn more money to buy more gifts – yet in doing so put themselves under pressure and miss being there with their families. This is just one example that the ‘holiday’ season is anything but healthy for us, and how it starts well before the date in question and finishes well after.
The stress parents put themselves under is enormous. They want to give the world to their children and make it magical while they still believe in Santa, plus trying to keep up with the Jones’s. If only they converted all this time in stress to actually spending it with their kids, then that is true magic right there.
Once again the silly season is drawing close with Xmas decorations starting to pop up here and there. I’m so glad I don’t have to buy into the whole thing anymore. It was the one day of the year that I not only drank too much, but also ate too much as well and always wound up feeling dreadful, but I never learned. As kids it was one day we were allowed to eat as much as we liked and it always made me sick. Why do we celebrate in a such a way, when our bodies give us every sign that this is causing us harm?
It really is ludicrous kevmchardy. Perhaps it all has something to do with the lack of real connection with one another and so we fill ourselves with food and drink so as not to feel the pain of the emptiness this brings.
It’s kind of interesting how we admit that Christmas is not enjoyable yet we willingly do it all again the following year. This is just one example of repetitive denial that humanity has not yet accepted. Having 6 cups of coffee per day is Christmas, eating a block of chocolate and washing it down with a coke daily is Christmas, drinking alcohol every weekend until you pass out – well that’s Merry Christmas right there. I guess the difference between my examples is, that Christmas is a lead up to an actual date, where as the others are a daily routine that doesn’t have the group force impact of that one day. So if we have daily unloving rituals that we can’t see are harmful to our bodies, how are we going to see that Christmas to is harmful to our bodies?
Great question kevmchardy. The ‘silly season’ does expose how we have chosen to live the rest of the year leading up to it because it seems so common to overdo everything, eating, drinking, partying and going overboard. May be we choose to celebrate this way because we have forgotten what true celebration is or we may be disliking what is going on so much that we simply want to drown out the discomfort, the pain and the emptiness of what we are feeling.
Great points Steffen, when reflected in this way it truly is silly and unloving to treat ourselves in this way. To live everyday lovingly now that makes perfect sense to me.
Yes Linda I agree to what you say: “. . . it is like people use this time as an excuse to blow out on indulgences of every kind.” My feeling is that they love it to do so – even if deep down there is an other feeling about it but this feeling is not so wonderful “indulging” – this feeling would allow them to feel what they are really doing and they avoid that this is an other way of having fun.
Why is it that tradition is so highly regarded when it is so obviously disregarding to our health? Why do we pass down to each generation these behaviours when it has such a long track record of constantly repeating itself to leave us with stress, debts and extra weight as is commonly the case with Christmas? And with such a track record why do we continue to celebrate it as a good thing or the only time when we can get together and supposedly ‘be loving’?
Oh Stefan I had to laugh as I was reading your amazing blog. Yes it is so true it is a really silly season and I am too wondering why we repeat it every year again and again – it is like a must and you are a bit of a “strange person” if you say no to it. So I was a “strange person” because I did not like christmas because of all the things you have so clearly mentioned in your blog. Therefore I felt understood and loved every word you wrote – wunderbar.
I agree with you Ester, that people tend to judge that you are a kind of a strange person when you say no to the ‘silly season’ as being lived by that many. I love to get together on these days with friends and family to just celebrate the life we have with each other instead. And we do it without all the silly rituals and routines that rule so many in this period of the year.
Yes Ester I agree, we are thought of as strange if we say no to Christmas. I did used to get caught up in the silly season when I had a young family, but it seemed to get sillier and siller as the years went by. One day I was out shopping, and as I was waiting to meet someone who was running late, I remember watching all the hundreds of shoppers frantically rushing around, looking stressed and exhausted, carrying heavy bags and I thought to myself then, what is this all about, for one day? Since then Christmas has become just another day to celebrate the love that I am with a few people that I love to be with, with just another lovely meal. Simple and delicious in every way.
Reading this it feels as if the stress leading up to Christmas directly contributes to the choices to eat and drink too much. Without a true loving intention any action or thought will only lead to the need to be distracted or numbed from it.
I enjoyed reading your insights of the ‘silly’ season Steffen – it is all so true – the pressure people put themselves under is enormous and, as you say, can take weeks to recover from physically and financially. Bringing in simplicity at this time of the year, I have found the Christmas period to be so much more joyful and playful, as I’ve let go of the must-do’s and must-have’s.
You’ve described the roundabout or merry go round of life as we currently know it; many people think they have to live life like this, but they don’t. We have a right to chose a different way, one that is far more caring of ourselves and family and friends. And caring leads to even more fun and enjoyment! I’ll be making sure 2015 isn’t the silly season for me 🙂
Silly season indeed! These days I love spending Christmas with friends or some of my family, just hanging out and sharing a very simple but delicious digestible meal, with a trip to the beach thrown in if the weather suits.
So true Steffen. The ‘silly season’ is an apt name but usually when someone refers to it that way they do so with a sense of amusement or acceptance for certain behaviours that go on – a kind of ‘well that’s just the way it is’ kind of attitude. It is ridiculous when we think about all that really happens at this time of the year and the huge investment that goes into maintaining the façade. It is definitely worth sharing a loving time with family and friends but also important to be aware that this is a template for how we can be living every day with them and that it is not time limited.
Steffen, it is interesting what you say, people get so caught up in trying to make it a loving period, but when it comes to it the stress of rushing around and unspoken words often causes the opposite, less love is shown but more reactions, arguments and hurtful conversation. Most people use it as an excuse to let their hair down, drink alcohol, eat loads and feel they can say what ever they think, as they have been bottling it up all year, with no consideration or responsibility how it will impact others.
If we need to place so much energy into enjoying one day, it not only is a massive distraction from living in the moment but also a justification for all the unloving choices that we supposedly have moved on from. This feels exhausting, and very far from living the simplicity of our joy and our love each and every day.
When you see it all written down like this it does sound like we have lost our minds slightly engaging in behaviour that is so unloving!
The health effects pointed out in this blog are huge the stress and overindulgence in food leading up to Christmas and Christmas day and into the new year when I for one made it ok to overindulge just because its Christmas seems to be a socially accepted norm. The health issues you point out are huge it makes no sense to be so unloving to our bodies as a way of celebrating only to feel ill and have to spend several weeks or months clearing the effects of the Christmas binge.
Yes Steffen, Christmas is totally over rated and the way many people choose to deal with this time of the year as you have described is simply abusive.
Absolutely spot on Marcia.
I think you have summed it up beautifully here Linda. Seen in black and white like this it seems madness that we choose empty conversation, arguments and self indulgence over an opportunity to build with others around us. What an amazing opportunity and time this truly could be for us all.
Jenny you have raised a great point that this time of the year is an opportunity to connect and form loving relationships with our family and friends. The dread of Christmas could be transformed by making the slight change to come with the joy and connection that so many people are craving for.
Christmas is definitely a time where people feel they have a licence to indulge in food, alcohol and the like under the guise of it being a ‘celebration’ or the ‘festive season’. However no matter what your beliefs or excuses, it is clear the body doesn’t appreciate this abuse and can be quite loud in telling you so. It is though, like everything in life, a choice and if you celebrate and honour yourself, life and others every day, Christmas can be just another amazing day with no unpleasant side effects.
Awesome comment Samantha, I have pondered on this time of the year too, how so many people are using it as an excuse to over indulge in so many ways. So, I agree Samantha, Christmas and every day of the year can be equally amazing and without any side effects if we make truly loving choices.
I love this part Chan “without any side effects if we make truly loving choices”… When we ‘do’ make truly loving choices, there are no side effects and the choices can expand to making more loving choices, – whereas when we make not so supportive choices, the side effects also often extend way beyond the time of the choice, and many of these are not so pleasant or comfortable to experience and seem to take a lot more time to return to making more supportive choices.
Really enjoyed reading this Steffen, makes a lot of sense and there is something that requires a balance between that child like awe at christmas time and retaining it even though we realise that much of the festivity at certain times of the year is glamour and not truly coming from love. I have experienced lately that people can genuinely be open to true brotherhood at various festive times of the year and this can be built on when a child-like essence connection is offered.
Some great sharing, you are right it should be a festive season of love, spending valuable time with love ones, without stress, anger, frustration and pressure. Instead humanity has created a season where there is so much pressure, stress, anxiousness, the true festive meaning is lost. After the crazy few days of indulgence, people spend months recovering. The body goes through such a roller coaster during this periods and crashes after, trying to recover. There is no surprise why so many people suffer the blues after this festive period.
A great description, Steffen, particularly the stress if there is no family to stress about… And all of these stressors were definitely there for me… And what a contrast it is now, a few friends, eating lightly, another day of celebration.
Yep, just another day of Celebration. That turns the whole idea upside down of Christmas being this one special day in the year where we all at one point live up to with all the stresses involved. It shows as well how focussed we are on a point ‘in time’ where ‘it’ all needs to happen. It meaning: ultimate joyful, happy, cosy, connective day. Would be interesting if ‘Every day is a Celebration Day’ were to replace this Christmas hype……
You are making some interesting points here Steffen. The one that made me ponder the most is the fact that it is supposed to be this celebration of love, but what we do is knock ourselves out with food and alcohol, feel uncomfortable or even argue within the family and create a whole lot of other stresses for ourselves and others. It really is pretty silly as you are saying.
Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of love but it doesn’t always feel so loving, especially true what Steffen have observed and it’s pretty shocking really. We are choosing to celebrate love with abusive choices instead.
I agree Chan Ly,
“We are choosing to celebrate love with abusive choices instead.”
And tensions are high and peoples sensitivities are in full alert. I myself didn’t realise, until yesterday how quickly something can be taken the wrong way, because I did not fully connect to how sensitive people are on Christmas Day.
Great blog Steffen – you’ve summed it up well. It is quite crazy how disregarding we can allow ourselves to be at Christmas and the beliefs we hold with how this period of the year needs to be.
Agreed Annie and Steffen. The ‘silly season’ is unfortunately a very accurate name for this time of year. It’s coming up again soon and already people are starting to talk about Christmas parties, the shopping centres are getting busy and no doubt the alcohol retail outlets are doing a roaring trade, including with the sale of gift cards that people buy others for presents. The pressure, expectations and repercussions of behaviours can be enormous.
Yes Helen, on a Saturday afternoon my local shopping centre carpark is usually not even half full but yesterday I was hard pressed to find a park … already and it’s only half way through November! The build-up to Christmas is well and truly happening already, how silly is that?!
Yes, it is quite crazy, and what this also highlighted to me is that some of these choices around this period extend well beyond Christmas. Any choice we make has consequences, so perhaps it is time to consider taking more responsibility for our choices, and to ask ourselves, why we are making these choices in the first instance?
l agree Annie, we have a picture of how it should be and it never eventuates. So many unfulfilled expectations and disregard. We end up walking around frazzled, dazzed and disappointed. Frankly l am so over it! There is a better way. That’s my new choice. To live the love, communication and expression now and in everyday. No day should ever be more special than another for any reason.
Christmas time is a time of madness – literally. It is encouraged that we spend more money more than we earn, over eat, drink ourselves silly . . . with a dramatic build up to one day that leaves most stressed and just glad for it to be over. What fun?! . . not!
It is about time to seriously question, why we do it year after year?
Yeah it’s a bit of a joke.. to effectively formalise trashing yourself on a particular day of the year each year.
The reality is Santa cannot suddenly deliver a white picket fence outside a home that will magically fix all the unresolved issues that have not been addressed all year … It’s almost like the silly season and in particular Christmas Day and New Years Eve (not day) have now become the most important days on the year in the calendar and the build up to them is becoming increasingly excessive, stress-full and ultimately somewhat disappointing and a let down every year. What about the 363 and a 1/4 other days of the year? Don’t they have just as much potential for new beginnings and for connecting with and appreciating our loved ones as any of the days over the Christmas Season does?
We look forward to these special days as a relief from the rigmarole of daily life. I suspect the day is really about making it a ‘special day’ however with all the traditional beliefs and patterns attached to the day. There is a tendency to fall into indulgence and damaging patterns. Surely x-mas could be different?
Steffen I agree the “silly season’ is the correct name for the Xmas season as all logical Behaviour just goes out the door. I used to stay up super late to make sure all the kids were asleep before I did the Santa thing, only to be woken up super early by excited kids who ended up to a tired and cranky mum who needed a treat to get me through the day! I can see how I was caught up in pleasing others to sustain the Xmas lie which I now have totally left behind!
What is it that we live the entire year that we do this punishing ritual at Christmas? What are the reasons behind it all, presents to tell people we love them? If we live love and share our ‘presence’ then everyone truly feels love everyday. It is a crazy time of year with over stimulation of the body and so much lack of self care. This blog is a reminder that the momentum we build throughout the year will support us through the ‘silliest’ season of them all or not. Our choice.
Silly is the exact word for this crazyness. It is my responsibility though to decide every day of the year to commit to love. Once I am in that momentum, when Christmas comes it’s easy to see through the illusion and to know how to navigate myself through the falsity of this season.
Brilliant. It’s like you bring the meaning of the ‘silly season’ smack bang in our faces. Another thing we take for granted. It is outrageous what is at play around Christmas. How about we take on board your suggestion, and live each day lovingly? IMAGINE the difference that would make to humanity at large!! wowsers
Christmas is one of these unique revealing moments in a year when families get to feel the real state of disunion they live in. As the unresolved issues are served as appetisers and mounting tension is the main dish, it is not difficult to understand why people choose to abuse their own bodies with food and alcohol.
That’s probably the best recommendation a practitioner can make Steffen, to live each day, lovingly and with care. The fact that we go on this crazy merry go round every year is just that — utterly crazy!
Hi Steffen, I have re-read this at just the right time for me. My mum has recently passed away, and in my family of origin, she was the main instigator of all the Christmas traditions…food, decorations etc.
I have been pondering how to simplify Christmas now (actually, I have been gradually letting go of the expectations for years!) and you have given me the true answer – that if every day is lived lovingly, without the self-punishment we can/have inflicted upon ourselves, we can live in an on-going Festival of Love! Brilliant! 💗
I agree, Steffen, Christmas is a silly season and it seems to get more silly, artificial and empty every year.
Another aspect of the silly season is an increase in road rage and accidents, particularly around shopping centers. I think you are right Steffen it seems like everyone gets caught up in a festival of self-abuse, when what they really want is a low stress time to appreciate each other.
It’s like we’re addicted to the abuse, because at least that keeps us in a constant flurry and distraction. Lest we stop and then have to really clock what we actually are doing ourselves and how unbelievably damaging it is– to us and to our loved ones.
Interesting the ‘high’s’ and ‘low’s’ of the ‘silly season’…I know, I remember them well, I was exhausted by January and would feel a bit low. I know that learning to live life in a quality that supports me every day has stopped the highs and lows and I live a much more steady and joyful life all the year through.
Thanks Steffen for raising some very valid points about Christmas. Unfortunately most people use the term ‘silly season’ in a dismissive or humorous way rather than face up to the reality of what happens year after year at this time. It is so much more inspiring to commit to finding the joy that comes from living responsibly each and every day rather than just a few days of the year!
Thank you Steffen Messerschmidt for summing up the repetitive behaviours people go into every Christmas period. The fact that people call it the ‘Silly Season’ says enough, they know what they are doing but are not in the position to stop and step out of it.
I’ve found that there has come a time that my day can feel so beautiful that the events that come around each and every year cannot match the loveliness inside I feel every day of the year. It’s not reserved just for Christmas. Easter or any of the other events that are celebrated.
As you write it all down and when observing this season it is indeed crazy, that we think having fun and being together is only possible on Chrismas, while it isn’t truly fun at all, eating so much and feeling stressed and tired afterwards doesn’t make it more fun or makes it even worse than a ‘Normal’ day..
Steffen, I love your recommendation that we live ‘each day lovingly without all the punishment we inflict on ourselves’ at Christmas. This would indeed ‘ be like . . .a true festival of Love.” I gave up celebrating Christmas many years ago, although recently we have started having a shared meal with friends to remind each other of our amazingness and our connection, but the actual day is no different from any other day. Every day can be a celebration of Love if we so choose!
Well said Steffen. This article should be a prescription for us all to read as the Silly Season comes around again and again.
Great blog, thank you Steffen.
I love this Steffen. I’ve often thought about this too – the silly season just doesn’t make sense. I made a resolve to myself several years ago not to get caught up in the silly season, it just seems ridiculous that there was so much stress in the lead up to one day. As you have shared, I am committed to making every day about love, not just one day of the year.
Thanks Steffen – I enjoyed reading your blog again. What struck me this time is how when I realised that there was no such person as Santa Claus I still hung on to many other illusions that I used to distract myself. So even though I had allowed myself to be fooled I still bought into the comfort of not accepting responsibility for life. It’s as though having invested in this illusion initially I then set up a pattern and used the ‘make believe’ as a way to cope with the rest of life.
With the list of all the self abusive, and disregarding ways of how we choose to live at this time of year that you have described Steffen, I feel that the silly season is a rather mild description. I agree with you “living each day lovingly without all the punishment we inflict on ourselves” is worth celebrating every day. Choosing to have a simple nurturing meal, go for a walk or just spend some time with friends or family at any time of year, is a far more loving way to share together.
‘What else other than silly could we call this’? You are absolutely right in what you say here Steffen. How we live in disregard to our bodies over the silly season and suffer with the consequences afterwards only to do it all over again next year, where is the common sense in that. I too like to celebrate with family and friends but can do that at any time during the year without the added stress.
What a wonderful exposé of the season well named the “Silly Season”. And so many of us have joined the silliness and gone through this every year, never questioning the harm – it’s just what we do at Christmas. But over the past few years I have observed people around me beginning to change how they celebrate Christmas, as they say it is simply too stressful and too expensive to continue how they have always done it, and that the true meaning has been lost – if it was ever there in the first place. For me; I have began to change the focus on celebrating that one day of the year, and now choose to celebrate every single day. That’s definitely not silly!
So true Steffen. Gone are the old beliefs and Ideals around Christmas for me, although it has taken a long time to let them go. Now it’s about taking responsibility for loving and celebrating me and all others in every moment of everyday. Living this in every word, thought, action and movement. It is about seeing the ‘Christ ‘in Christmas every day,
Thank you Steffen and CH, I agree whole-heartedly; ever day is a true celebration of being connected to the Christ within us all.
Great observations Steffen, but what if it were more widely known that Christmas is a con that so many fall for. . . If one does some research they will discover that it is not even the true birthday of Jesus that is being celebrated but Mithra’s birthday.. that would set the cat amongst the pigeons or is Christmas so widely anticipated now that nothing would change? Would we not be far healthier as a society if we lived as though every day is a day to be celebrated and shared lovingly with friends and family?
A great read Steffen, a wonderful blow by blow dissembling of the inane fabric of a so called celebratory period that in fact leaves everyone simply stuffed! And also the obvious and yet revealing statement that yes, it happens every year!
Christmas is supposed to be a joyful time and yet speaking to most people they feel exhausted just thinking about it. There is either too much to do, family to catch up with that we avoid the rest of the year or driving around from one excessive family meal to the next. The only thing most people seem to look forward to is the relief of some time off work. How much easier would it be to genuinely love and celebrate each other everyday?
Christmas is as crazy time of year or silly as you say Steffen . And the fact that a lot of us will say each year that it is too commercial and we won’t have any part of it, we turn around the next year and get caught up in the hype and rush again trying to find the perfect present, cooking special foods, all for one day! You say why can’t we just express Love to those around us every day treating each other with kindness and respect. What wonderful lives we could have! Thank you Steffen for a great blog.
I completely agree. What a refreshing article, compared to all the pre-Christmas hype. I really liked reading this as it has confirmed what I have always wanted to say… And that ‘Christmas’ does not make sense, compared to the opportunity this gathering could bring.
It was great to read this in the lead up to Easter Steffen. I used to love Easter as chocolate was my favorite food (despite the fact that dairy has always made me feel sick). I would eat huge quantities of chocolate and make myself feel terrible as I felt like Easter was a license to indulge. Now I see it really isn’t worth it and my body does not care that it is Easter.
Agreed that silly season is a great name for the xmas and new year period and the irony is that many suffer through this time in one way or another but will somehow have forgotten this and repeat the same behaviours again next year.
Great blog Steffen, that’s exactly how I feel about Christmas, totally silly, and I have often asked myself why do people get caught up in it when all they do is moan about it. It has nothing to do with Jesus anymore, more of a celebration of Santa Claus who doesn’t even exist! I have in the past got caught up in it too, but the hold on me has gradually got less and less, I feel as though I am watching Christmas from the outside. Yes, I do like to celebrate with my family and friends, but I can do that any time of year, not just at Christmas.
What a very true account of Christmas or ‘the silly season’ Steffen and how owned we can be by a festival date or occasion. Ownership by anything outside of ourselves always leads to tension or stress; when we start to live as per the natural world inside us, everything changes and the real-us can be and live in spite of illusionary happenings. There is freedom in the choice to live and celebrate the real-us.
Has anyone seen the amount of chocolate on the shelves in the grocery stores and the moment (in the lead up to Easter)?? Talk about another silly season!
Absolutely, Christmas, New year, Easter, Australia day, Anzac day and any old excuse to just be ‘silly’ takes you out of your self. How lost have we become from the truly vital, loving being we naturally are?
Steffen I also agree it is a ‘silly season’ for many reasons. I now can feel the enormous amount of pressure that we as a society have imposed on ourselves about Christmas. It really in no way serves the purpose of sharing love at this time, as families come together. There are such high expectations about all the things that ‘have’ to be done that mark ‘great’ or ‘perfect’ Christmas, at the expense of our health and well-being. It often looks like people are not truly enjoying the preparations or the coming together as a family, and that there is an obligation to go through it all. All overriding what is truly being felt like unresolved hurts, driving yourself to be a ‘good’ family member, or proving that you love everyone by buying the right gift. I have been there too and have felt absolutely exhausted and depleted after Christmas.
But now I know that there is another way to enjoy this time of year, celebrating the love I share with my family and friends and not needing to prove this love on this one day, as we live and share this love every day.
Great article and I couldn’t agree more. It’s great to have the confirmation and from all the comments what I have been feeling about Christmas the last few years. I have often been called boring so fitted in knowing that it was all a pretence in the build up to the day and then to see the disappointment of it being over. Thankfully I don’t experience this anymore.
Steffen what intrigues me is that most people agree with you and yet it’s not a conversation that we have. It goes to show how used to not being honest we are, in that most of the world (apart from the kids) would happily go without Xmas day and yet we pretend that it’s great ! It’s so natural for our society to not be honest with ourselves and each other. Only when we are honest will things truly start to change and that honesty must start with being honest with ourselves first. There is liberation in honesty !
When you list the expected Christmas traditions & behaviours, as you have Steffen, it all seems ridiculous! Why do we put ourselves through all that stress & the consequences thereof? Three years ago we decided as a family to stop Christmas becoming ‘the silly season’. We now have a light lunch, not unlike what we eat daily (usually salmon or chicken and salad) & spend the day relaxing – maybe have a swim together as a family etc. I (as Mum & previously chief cook & bottle washer) love the day & so does the rest of the family, because there are no expectations on anyone.
I allowed my children to ‘work out’ that Santa wasn’t real very early on in their life, much to the disapproval and reaction of some parents at their school. I’m talking pre-primary, when the question of Santa starts to be an understandable concept to children. It challenged my own ideals, but it is easy when you connect to the fact that there is magic and divinity in everyday life, if you are open and willing to see it, as children are. You don’t have to wait for the 25th December for the story that isn’t true.
My children are beginning to ‘work’ out that Santa is not real and I am relieved! They are in primary school but I have found that we as parents are under a lot of pressure to ‘fall’ in with this untruth. I know I have for the sake of not spoiling Christmas for other children.
You’re so right Steffen, Christmas really is the silly season, the build up starts months before, and always feels like a complete anti-climax on the day. I could never understand the build up and all the craziness that went with it and I alway felt a bit of a party pooper but I can see now that I was just feeling that we had lost the true meaning of Christmas which is about family and enjoying the time together.
Absolutely Alison, ‘family’, and brotherhood all rolled into one.
When you put it all down in words as you have done Steffen, it most definitely is the ‘silly season’. I totally relate to the anxiety of finding the right gift for the children and then the total let down on Christmas day if their reaction was not as excited as I thought they should be. Not to mention the financial pressure. And then wishing I was still a child so that I could enjoy the excitement without any of the emotional and financial stress.
Jumping off the Christmas/Festive Season roller coaster ride and making each day a commitment to self love surely makes for a smoother ride.
Awesome blog Steffen thank you. I have always dreaded Christmas day, as I felt a build up from morning through lunch and alcohol of misery and… bang! that afternoon here it would come – total madness. As soon as I was old enough I would do something very removed from how I had grown up. Where as Christmas has the potential of great meetings of people – a massing of Christ.
Reading your words here Steffen really magnified how ridiculous these rituals are when we choose to ignore what we know to be true about our health and wellbeing and give up on ourselves for the ‘silly season’. I did it myself for years and knew all along it did not make sense. I realise now that I did it to fit in, in the absence of having a strong connection with my own inner authority that now says ‘no’ much much more, to what does not feel true for me.
Silly and stressful it certainly is! This year some of my family shared Christmas with me and it was lovely because we simply shared the time together as we would for any occasion – the Christmas meal was a lovely but everyday meal, with everyday quantities and we went spent time on the beach. It was a rare opportunity to be in the same place together as we are geographically spread apart.
I fully agree with “living each day lovingly” and “this would be like Christmas every day and a true festival of Love”. Thank you Steffen for writing this.
Well said Steffen, you nailed the definition of ‘Silly Season’ and backed-it-up with your observations. Imagine an obligation free Christmas? I had one this year and whilst it’s great to see the family during this time, because often we come together – I had already seen all of my family before Christmas. Knowing I’ll see them after Christmas too, I spent it largely alone. It was magic.
Thanks Steffen, this article too made me laugh from the point of view of how much pressure we put on ourselves to get it right according to who and what? It is ridiculous that showing our love for our families and friends should look a certain way and not something we naturally express all year round.
I loved your article Steffen it made me laugh, a light and playful look at what people do to their bodies over the Christmas period. Which is not so funny for our bodies and needs to be addressed as society.
What I like about Christmas is that people do make an effort to be friendly to others and to give gifts and to get together and, possibly even to have some time for reflection. What I notice is how much these attempts lead to physical and emotional trouble. It is strange – it seems we are more ok when we are grumpy than when we try to make ourselves and others feel better – it is almost like a trap – be nice and you end up hurt.
Yes it is easy to see why they call it the silly season, although being silly should be about having fun! I am in retail and I also notice the same things – the stress of the build up and the blow out after the events. It is a yearly cycle that people are living in, but as you mention, we simply have to choose to look after ourselves every day and not think that the Christmas period is an excuse to throw all regard for ourselves out the window and then pay dearly for it afterwards.
I agree Helen – there is a growing number of people living joyful and looking after themselves 🙂
Yes, you’ve summed it up so well Steffen. Unfortunately, society is a long way behind acknowledging and balancing up what you and others are saying. But the good news is that there is a growing number of people who are starting to think alike and to focus on living each day joyfully and with the fullness of love within themselves and for others.
That is hilarious Steffen – are you saying we could make everyday Valentines day? That every day could be loving and romantic – minus the chocolates!
Sure living a joyful life is like celebrating Christmas, Valentines Day, Easter …. every single day.
If we start to enjoy life then there is no need to focus on a few days a year as every day can be made special and joyful.
Minus the chocolate and any other abuse!
You are spot on Steffen, I too see this trend of stress and disease with my work around the silly season and have always wondered why? I am grateful I have stopped making it about the one day of the year where I would make choices that would regret thereafter and now focus on living everyday being true to myself and my body, now that’s a celebration!
Your blog encapsulates the sheer madness that is Christmas. In anticipation of February 14th, it occurs to me that there’s a similar cycle at play there, on ‘Valentine’s Day’, when for one day only, everything turns red and be-hearted, roses flourish, chocolates are guzzled, cards of suggestion or confirmation are sent and if you’re lucky, Love is expressed. I’d far rather a consistency, a love lived and expressed every day, than this commercialised nonsense.
Great point Cathy – Valentine’s Day is another day with all that build up and pressure to show love, affection and mostly fake romantic.
And after all our bodies have to suffer from the consequences.
Living a loving way every day and expressing to our partners how much we love and enjoy being with them is more then any put on day in February can do.
I heard a statistic today that 53% of women will dumb their partner if he forgets to put on romantic and love and the flowers and chocolate on that day – so it seems to be ok if the partner is grumpy and shows no love all year but that one day he better Not Forget!
On the front line during WW2, the soldiers instigated a Christmas Truce on Christmas day. So awful that they went back to fighting and killing each other a day later, what strange behaviour we do as humans.
The truce that the solders sought does show however that there is something within us all that longs for everyone to get along with one another and to stop the war that is occurring both within us and around us. It is just that we don’t seem to be able to hold onto that for very long as our hurts get in the way.
Steffen I had an experience with a member of my team at work who said the 3-4 months before Christmas he was uptight and caught up worrying about Christmas. It reminded me just how much Christmas takes over and the pressure it places on everyone. I also used it as a time to eat whatever I wanted – a time off and a reward for my hard work – but then had to suffer the consequences a few days later.
This is crazy, David. We can see how some people live up to a special day, an age or an event. After this moment the exhaustion is so much, because of an unnatural rhythmn lived with very high peaks and lows. Statistics say many partnerships get divided after such days.
Everyone was so busy in the post office today when I queued to get some money. There was a lot of stress and noise, and a man rather harassed at the counter with 2 children wanting to buy comics, and distracting him. And then, when the elderly man in front of me had his turn, he said he didn’t want anything today but just to wish the ladies behind the counter a Merry Christmas. And he turned and we smiled a beautiful exchange. I already know it but it was a lovely example of how we don’t all have to get caught up in the frenzy.
Yes Christmas feels a lot more simple and spacious for me too as I drop the expectations people might have on me and me on them. The present giving is also changing and I feel that the things I buy throughout the year for people I would rather give them in the moment rather than saving them for Christmas. I still enjoy the lights in town but if I had a choice I would rather watch the stars.
I agree Elaine and I feel you have touched on something big here. Could it be that we have created Christmas as a festival of light and goodwill as the next best thing and a poor substitute for being more connected to ourselves, each other and nature every day?
So true Elaine as we fill our lives with presents and feel good distractions. When the real gifts are connection to ourselves each other and the beauty of God in nature.
I was out driving this morning and was amazed at how many risks people were prepared to take – as in overtaking when approaching a pedestrian crossing, and not only that a couple of minutes later another van overtook me on the approach to a roundabout.
The pressure everywhere feels tangible and as you say, Steffen, all because there is this ‘pressure’ to complete tasks before Christmas. As someone wisely said to me this morning ‘When I rush, it robs me of time’ which I felt was something to ponder on and explore.
I agree, Susan the pressure of Christmas is tangible. Just yesterday I felt a heightened intensity of it in the supermarket where people were crashing and banging past each other to reach the shelves and get their shop done. I saw two people I knew, one I spoke to who was totally frustrated and couldn’t find what she wanted, the second was so intent on her shop that she didn’t see me just next to her. Rather than being a holiday, for many it could be seen as just another task in life to get through.
Steffen, your descriptions of stress in the build up to Christmas have been very true for me, for as long as I can remember I have been completely exhausted and often unwell in the run up to Christmas or on Christmas day and it did not seem to make a difference how early I started the preparation. I too am now taking the importance out of Christmas Day and making it about everyday, a far more loving way to be.
And here we are again Steffan, coming into Christmas. A few years ago I chose to step back from all the madness. I chose to stop all those stresses you have listed from being a part of my life. We can if we chose, make everyday about love, it does not have to be these grand gestures but simply and consistent appreciation of one another. It does make life a lot more pleasurable on a constant basis than the extremes that come with celebrating Christmas in this day and age. You can’t buy Love, how ever much we try but we can live it everyday.
Working in a supermarket at the moment, it is possible to see much of the anxiety being experienced right now in these days leading up to Christmas. There is a great deal of expectation and stress as a result.
When is it going to be more than enough to simply be who we naturally are?
It seems like with 2 days until Christmas there is exactly what you have described here occurring – lots of stress, madness and lack of self-care, and I agree – it does not make sense when this is the time we are meant to be the most caring and loving – why aren’t we doing this for ourselves?
You have really highlighted well the extremes of this time of year and the ongoing impact it has on health. Thank you.
Great points, Steffen, these days while all my friends are stressing over Christmas, I don’t send cards any more, and I don’t buy presents – I appreciate my family, friends, work colleagues and neighbours all year round, I don’t need to give them presents just because it is Christmas. I used to eat heaps and then spend months trying to shed the extra weight. I still like the traditional Christmas Turkey, but it is half the size I used to buy, and I don’t have so many ‘trimmings’, it is simply another nourishing meal. My kids come and visit, and generally it is a time for catching up with each other and chilling on the sofa, or going for a walk, which is lovely.
I agree, Carmel, simplifying the whole process give us time to enjoy everyone’s company when we get together. It’s still changing every year for me but is getting simpler, and easier each year.
It’s a ‘merry go round’ that is hard to jump off ! I see the ‘punishment’ as trying to please others ? still work in progress for me……….
However, let us all choose to make Christmas ” a true festival of Love “, to be followed by ” living each day lovingly ” throughout the year.
Well once again the silly season is upon us, silly maybe too light a term, more like complete and utter madness season. I took over an hour to do a ten minute drive last night, all down to the silly season. I made the silly mistake of going to the Westfield Stratford at this time of year Doh!
This is a great article, I felt like this for 23 years. I don’t understand people rushing round getting stressed. I have even seen parents fight over toys. The recent Black Friday events in the UK says it all. Thankfully my family feel the same. To me it is business as normal and I even work on the day.
Here we are again, the lead up to Christmas, and again, I see everyone under pressure, to create the perfect day, everyone trying to meet the demands from school, work, family and friends and literally everyone gets sick at some point during the month. We all know the effects and yet we still fall for the Christmas story, to make it to the 25th, so we can celebrate that one day, by over eating, indulging and then if the lead up wasn’t bad enough, the aftermath can also take its toll. Truly the silly season, is it really worth it?
Where are we as a society that people think this is normal ? what is truly going on in the world? These
are the questions for people to ponder on…
You’ve made some really good points here and yes ‘silly season’ is an appropriate name.
Thanks Steffen. I had no clue it was called the ‘silly season’ – what a fitting name! ‘It doesn’t make sense to me now that we need a day to be nice to each other and have fun getting together – that can happen any day.’ – I totally agree with you.
It is spot on – I just actually looked at the definition of Silly Season in Wikipedia:
‘In Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, the silly season has come to refer to the Christmas/New Year festive period (which occurs during the summer season in the Southern Hemisphere) on account of the higher than usual number of social engagements where the consumption of alcohol is typical.’
Consumption of alcohol is Typical ~ in other words Normal,
Just Crazy.
I agree love and life is for everyday and not just for Christmas. How sad for many it is only for I day and hence the over indulgence and pressure. Every day is magical if we allow ourselves to see it and be it.
A further re-read of this blog has reminded me that I have to be aware of not getting pulled into ill-energy of the season – a fellow student said to me just keep it simple and see any christmas cards as a way of connecting with people, not a chore to be endured and the whole energy of ‘expectations’ has just dropped away.
For the first time, I have just typed a letter with all the amazing things (now ‘new normal’) that have occurred during 2014 and sent it out on email to people to connect this way too……phew!
So true Steffan, it really is the silly season when people just go mad and spend and spend. Working in a supermarket I get to see and feel the build up. The size of shopping in the trollies treble and alcohol is in nearly every shop and the queues start to build up. I really enjoy this time of year because people start to open up a little more and talk at the check-outs, they have something to look forward to and by the last few days the whole family will be shopping together. Even when we have long queues people accept this more than at other times so any frustration that is there is easily dispelled by the other people waiting in the queue. Sadly this does not last and by the second week in January everyone is back into their old way of being. Christmas is a time for families to get together but wouldn’t it be wonderful if we celebrated this everyday not one day a year.
“It totally makes sense why we call it the ‘Silly Season’, because we put in so much extra effort to treat ourselves in such an unloving way. What else other than ‘silly’ could we call this?” What great timing to read this now, and what a great point to expose – that we treat ourselves way more un-lovingly than at other times in the year – it often feels like one big over-indulgent excuse.
It comes around every year when people seem to go quite crazy with over everything; over eating, over eating, over the top with spending, buying presents they can’t afford, as Steffen says causing so much stress. Getting together with friends and family can be such great fun, any time of the year, meeting and talking with work colleagues and everyone we meet on a daily basis. Life is for every day, not just for Christmas.
This is a fantastic observation of Christmas, I used to love christmas too as a child and thought all the extra decorations and lights and the idea someone came from the other side of the world to give me a present magical, not to mention the fact that everyone around me HAD to be nice at this time of year (though I always remember an anxiousness in case the fighting started again). What I see now is so different, we put so much effort into one day and forget all the other days, if we all put that amount of commitment into love and care for ourselves and others into life, imagine the amazing difference every day!!
The Christmas crazy times have started for sure! The emotional christmas songs are played everywhere (even in the indoor swimming pool!). Brrr. I agree with you we can be together in a loving way with our family more than once a year. And I do love getting together with all my family. To me my friends and fellow students are also family so I don’t limit it to my blood related family to celebrate with a lovely get together and a meal.
Love your quote at the end: I would rather recommend living each day lovingly without all the punishment we inflict on ourselves – this would be like Christmas every day and a true festival of Love.
The silly season is very prominent at the moment as we see the shops bursting, the bustle and hurry to buy and the overconsumption in all areas magnified.
But underneath all this pressure is a joy of communicating and being with people wether it be friends, relatives and family to complete strangers that we all deeply share, a love of one another even if perhaps we have forgotten how to truly communicate and be the love we truly are.
It would be amazing if we could simply be together joyfully with everyone every day as a special time and the amount of sharing and connection would become normal and the overconsumption for a short time could disappear to a more loving way of eating and being. Just being ourselves with no show and the simplicity and love we all really crave.
Thank you Steffen for your great sharing.
I so agree Tricia, ‘ underneath all this pressure is a joy of communicating and being with people whether it be friends, relatives and family to complete strangers that we all deeply share, a love of one another even if perhaps we have forgotten how to truly communicate and be the love we truly are.’
It’s like there’s this one day a year that people give themselves permission to talk to another person even if it’s a complete stranger. It would be great if people could give themselves this permission everyday. There aren’t many occasions when people do this – it’s one reason I actually like long public transport delays – I get to talk to lots of people and have a laugh. When I helped out with rescues was another time when people really came together.
I do agree people are out of practice at communicating with another honestly -and seem to need some kind of activity or crutch (alcohol, lots of comfort eating) to facilitate interaction. But the impulse to connect meaningfully is always there.
Your words Tricia remind me of a friend of mine who said recently: ‘ For me everyday is Christmas’ Simply put but powerful. it spoke to me in this way. Why a special day?
Everyday is special and a blessing.
I agree Tricia, every day is a special day!
Where is humanity within themselves that this is the continuing roll coaster ride that they go on every year ? something to ponder on….do we really listen to our body what is true for it or that its had enough to eat ?
I’ve often wondered why people invest so much in Christmas. Too much food, too many presents, too much debt, all masquerading as an expression of a love we have the choice to celebrate every day. This silly season is just one example of how lost we have become.
A timely reminder! In some of the shops it is like people going crazy in a buying frenzy, trolleys filled to the brim – I am amazed! I feel as if I am watching some mad movie. To live each day lovingly, now that makes sense. A great blog Steffen!
The over consumption and the big parties are seen as a celebration, but there is no real celebration in doing something that leaves you feeling worse off or even ill the next day, I learned that many times the hard way. Silly indeed!
Yes thanks Steffen for exposing just how ridiculous the ‘silly season’ is and how it seems to be used as a licence to abandon any sense of taking care of ourselves and a fleeting distraction from all the things left unresolved and un-dealt with during the year. I remember often feeling very deflated and disappointed immediately after Christmas as it never seemed to live up to expectations no matter how good a time I had. This deflation I am realising now was all those issues that I had distracted myself from bubbling up again and saying ‘we are still here’. These days I use the Christmas/New Year break as a time of reflection of the year that has been and a time to change things or clear out things from my life (including possessions) that do not seem to support me anymore. Feels much better and less deflating afterwards!
Love the clearing out and reflection you bring to this time of year Andrew, sounds like a much more sound approach than the pop-and-deflate of Christmas and New Year’s resolutions
“It totally makes sense why we call it the ‘Silly Season’, because we put in so much extra effort to treat ourselves in such an unloving way. What else other than ‘silly’ could we call this?” Love this Steffen. Why do we eat/drink to excess at this ‘festive’ time of year? To give ourselves a treat? A treat that can end up with feeling sick or a hangover or worse. Very silly indeed.
This is great and I suppose my biggest question to the world after reading this would be “what do you do after all of that”…you can feel the tension from the points you make so clearly, why do we put ourselves through that rhythmically only to feel so inflated physically and deflated mentally as a result. Crazy and Silly…
How silly it is Steffen, as you have clearly laid out.
Thank you Steffen, Over consumption is so detrimental to the body and ‘silly season’ is just an excuse to do this even more. I love your words –
“living each day lovingly without all the punishment we inflict on ourselves – this would be like Christmas every day and a true festival of Love”.
How beautiful, joyful and simple life could be with this as our forever way.
I too remember as a child feeling rather disappointed that the conjured up excitement over Christmas left me feeling that something was missing and guilty that I wasn’t always thrilled with all the things I was given. I now celebrate the last few days of December as the very short days of winter in the UK gradually turn to increasing light as we start another cycle of the year. I enjoy the family coming together to celebrate being a family as part of a wider family.
Steffen, so true, the silly season indeed a time to celebrate and compound our unloving choices, isn’t that just crazy and yet we do it, I’ve done it in the past and it’s only been recently that I’m breaking it down and looking at treating each day as a new one to live with care and love.
And, if the come down after Christmas isn’t enough, a lot of companies pay people before Christmas so they can spend more over the Christmas period, but then there’s longer between December and January pay day, so everyone is even more low as they have no money throughout January.
Such true words Samantha “There is no celebration in stress and over consumption.”
Yes – my past experiences of Christmas were just that. I remember a lot of stress and expectation concerning what Christmas should be. I still very much enjoy time together with friends and family and enjoying lighting the wood stove in the dark North European December, but I am committed to living each day with care and not over doing it in the name of celebration. There is no celebration in stress and over consumption. I say yes to learning to live each day as a celebration of love and light in the world. Thank you for sharing.
Weekends, holidays and vacations all fall into the same category for so many; a reactionary swing from neglect to indulgence (neither of which deliver what we really want!): these “breaks” from the everyday ways we use to survive carry with them an illusion that in these gaps we can make up for all the sweetness, love, connection and care that was lacking in all those days in between…those days that build the quality and texture of our life…
We can choose to work on being who we are, and living the life our heart knows is True EVERY DAY.
Thank you Universal Medicine for reminding us of this and all those living it for showing how very possible this is.
Human life seems to live in that constant state of up and down, high and low and our health en mass is showing us that it is not truly working for us. Universal Medicine on the other hand shows that living consistently brings true health and true results every day.
Love this Steffen – “It totally makes sense why we call it the ‘Silly Season’, because we put in so much extra effort to treat ourselves in such an unloving way. What else other than ‘silly’ could we call this?” I used to get stressed out about Christmas – trying to make everything perfect – impossible of course – and run myself into the ground withy the build-up, so that I couldn’t actually enjoy the time I spent with my family So very silly!
I used to find that buying into the whole Xmas thing was exhausting. I no longer buy into it and by really honouring that choice, I no longer feel pressure from others to enjoin.
‘Tis the season to be jolly’ but what about the other 9 months? Christmas preparation used to begin 3 months before shopping, planning food, writing cards….etc so I now feel since not ‘ doing Christmas’ a few years ago I have a big chunk of my life back. Now each day is approached in the same wonderment.
I loved your blog Steffen. The silly season is beginning to crank up now, and I even heard Christmas music in some shops.It seems to start earlier each year and sounds so false.As you observe from your clinic ,the stress of organising everything is immense.
The other silly thing about after christmas is that many people often can’t afford the expense and so go into debt in the new year – adding more stress!
Yes, Perhaps this huge need to give presents, even when we are broke, comes from wanting to make up for all the moments we didn’t feel or show love.
It’s time to shift out of this cycle and address the root of the issue as Christmas is not the love we all wish it was and will never balance a life NOT lived from the heart everyday.
Festival of Love creates monsters – you might need to write a blog with this headline 🙂
The preparation for Christmas seems to get earlier and earlier as the Christmas stuff has been in my local Homebase since the start of October. Its a great day for children but seems to turn them into complete monsters. Toys these days are too abundant and less appreciated. As a child from a big family, Christmas day was the only day of the year we could eat what we liked and as much as we liked. The amount of food and drink I used to consume was disgusting and would always result in me feeling very ill for the rest of the day and probably taking my body well into the new year to process.
Thanks Steffen for a very sound blog.
It is crazy how we can have nearly a 3 month build up to celebrate 1 day. I have met people that are willing to go into debt and then spend the rest of the year having to payoff the debt, only to do it all over again the following year. You are right Steffen, it really is the silly season, when we indulge in all the things we would not normally do, yet we choose to do it every year.
3 months build up for 1 day and suffer the rest of the year to pay of the depth financially and health wise – how other then crazy could we call this. Awesome Alison
So true Alison. 3 months build up for one day. This highlights just how crazy it is and in truth it adds more stress and emptiness to people’s lives and what for? It just doesn’t make sense.
I couldn’t agree more Steffan. It’s so crazy and yet what’s even more crazy is that most people know its crazy but still do it! I’ve gradually distanced myself from Christmas over the years and see it as a time to enjoy a break but I can still feel the pull to get drawn back in as the hype of Christmas intensifies. We’re bombarded with marketing, expectations and beliefs which pile on the pressure to conform. It’s such a huge relief though to let go of that and see it for what it is.
Steffen – I absolutely Love your blog and great timing for me to comment. Here in London we got the shops with the xmas stuff already and its only October !
Yesterday our DIY man asked us what we do for Christmas and where was we going to put our tree? Hello – he got me and my husband started…
I told him the Truth – how big I was into xmas and all the trimmings. Your list before applied to me totally and more. I then told him that I feel its Christmas everyday and as he knows us so he agreed. We celebrate life for no reason and have no agenda. One day he came over and had roast lamb mid week and was blown away how that is normal for us. He said he feels the joy we live every time he meets us. Interesting he then told us he gets very depressed as soon as its all over in the new year.
The silly season is a killer if we really study it – it serves no-one. Your list as a practitioner at the receiving end confirms this loud and clear.
… ‘New Year’s resolutions –are to get healthy and work hard to reverse all the damage done over X-mas and New Year. Yet…..the following year we go and do it all again … ‘ which actually shows us to be more than silly!? Great sharing Steffan, thank you
Same procedure as last year … Same procedure as every year…
I am sure eventually we will discover that we do this Merry-go-round and stop the silliness.
Great Blog Steffan and makes real sense thank you. A timely reminder as we are back now into the run up already in the shops and the music for the next “silly season” all over again. The preparations and build up are already out there and quite ridiculous and panic making to feel.
THe harmful effects you bring light to on everyone from a so called joyful magical time are very real.
Now Christmas day to me is a day to rest and be still, to walk and enjoy gently and share company with in this lovingly with out and needs or pressures.
AS the shops prepare already over here in the UK for Christmas – the pressure is on for many people. One friend told me she has already done all her Christmas shopping! The extra stress it causes for everyone is huge- and we choose it! Huge expectations, then a feeling of let-down. Silly season indeed. “It doesn’t make sense to me now that we need a day to be nice to each other and have fun getting together – that can happen any day.” yes to that – and it does.
I have been one of those people who found the stresses of christmas and the expectations that come with it quite overwhelming with increasing anxiety. I ate foods that made me feel rough, stayed up late, and at times opted out of the whole event. Then I came to Universal Medicine and from the presentations of Serge Benhayon I decided to start to love and care for myself on a daily basis and look at the ways I believe I should be that can mask and influence how I am, doing things to fit in, be nice and good. I can now bring the growing love and care I have for myself to this time of year, like all other days and enjoy this time to be with others.
Great sharing Steffan, we need less silliness and more stillness.
Brilliantly succinctly put Lorraine- love it!
Great blog Steffan, I have always dreaded Christmas for all the reasons you speak of. Why can’t we just love eachother everyday and support one another in each others choices so that come Christmas we’re not compelled to buy eachother expensive presents in some sort of attempt to make up for the lack of love throughout the year? It’s a toughie though, I have tried for a few years now to stop the whole present/over indulgence thing as let’s face it nobody’s wallets or health can afford it, but I come up against so much resistance from people thinking I’m a “Scrooge” and “party pooper”. Having said that it’s understandable as it’s so easy to excuse all the lack of love and not have to deal with it “as long as we see each other at Christmas”.
So true Christmas exposes the lack of love and as you stated the “attempt to make up for the lack of love throughout the year”
Does not work.
“so I would rather recommend living each day lovingly without all the punishment we inflict on ourselves – this would be like Christmas every day and a true festival of Love.” Well said. You are right it is currently a time of deeper disregard. That it doesn’t matter cos ‘it’s only one day’. I still feel there are old beliefs I need to let go of to do with Christmas as I will still run around trying to get people presents.
I have been a non xmas person for 20 years, as soon as I left home essentially, I loved being overseas and remote from the family obligations to buy presents, spend lots of money on presents that would be half price the day after xmas – that is utter madness! That one aspect is exposing of so many ideals and beliefs that have nothing to do with love and joy that is meant to be abounding homes across the country on the 25th of December.
Love this blog Steffan, Xmas with all the stress never made much sense to me either; it is as though people just go mad for a few days. I gave up about 15 years ago stressing buying presents and more food than was necessary and planned ahead during the year. It just was not worth the stress for a couple of days – I can see how people could make themselves ill during the xmas period.
There is a car sticker which says, ‘A dog is not just for Christmas’ . Maybe there should be one to point out that humans need care and nurture throughout the year too..and that includes ourselves.
how about a bumper sticker that says:
Dogs are x-mas everyday-Why don’t we?
Absolutely love your article Steffan, it really brings it home just how silly this season is and how destructive it can be. You are quite right everyday needs to be lived as a celebration of who we are.
Stephan, this is a great article with great points. You highlight so well the level of silliness around this time of year. ‘Living each day lovingly would be like christmas every day and a true festival of love’ …. I like the feel of that.
It’s interesting to read your observations on clients symptoms around Christmas, that they choose to have that glass of alcohol or the Christmas pudding and cream when they wouldn’t normally and the after affects of that on the body. Why do we make unloving choices on a day that is suppose to be about love in order to celebrate? As you say Steffen, very ‘Silly’, and great to look at this.
We are already preparing for Christmas at work, and it’s only September. Last year, every single person at work was off sick in December, and I ended up working a lot more hours to cope, not having any time to prepare for Christmas, and ended up sick on Christmas day. It’s not an unusual situation, so many people work like crazy in the lead up, and collapse once the holiday hits. This year, I feel as though I need to ensure that preparation for Christmas is being extra extra caring and nurturing in the face of all the stress. It is ridiculous the amount of pressure we create to ensure there is one great day in the year.
It’s only September and where I work has started putting out Christmas stuff. People are planning the stress-a-thon four months in advance, now that is silly! Your blog is great as it shows how we are told to stress and push for ‘The most wonderful time of the year’ only to be rewarded with ‘At lest it’s over for another year’. I would say yes to not choosing stress over any gift or present any day.
Great points Steffen, there is much silliness around Christmas!
Hi Steffen in the UK in london the season starts in october it is awful the commercialisation is so over the top it makes me so confused. But as you say the crazier thing is the stress, the indulgence, the violence, the mental illness all for months either side of one day, utter madness.
You are right Vanessa, from being silly to utter madness is a valid comment. “The stress, the indulgence, the violence, the mental illness all for months either side of one day, utter madness.” The illness from people around this time confirms it all. One of my colleagues has eleven brothers and sisters. His comment was that he hated Christmas and yet in September he was beginning to prepare by browsing the shops in preparation to buy presents. How many people feel the same utter dislike of the season but go through the motions because they feel they have to? How much stress is put on families to live up to an ideal day that doesn’t truly exist?
Steffen, awesome. I too find Christmas a very silly season and everything you’ve seen as a healthcare professional confirms how silly it is! Thank you for exposing how ridiculous Christmas can be for some people, and also thank you for offering a different way.
Reading your lists Steffen, it feels so familiar. For some years I have intended to leave all that Christmas stuff behind only to find that something has crept in from somewhere. There’s always an excuse, a friend not connected with for a long time, family visiting, “I’m doing Christmas with a difference, not all that old stuff,” and so on. But even “doing Christmas with a difference is still making a big thing of Christmas Day with all the symptoms you describe.Thank you for the blog as it has made me conscious of what sneaks in. I am going to start living Christmas Day tomorrow, and then each day will follow, step by step, and the designated Christmas Day when it arrives be the same as every preceding day, clear, loving, and simple. Aah ……………..
You are right Steffen, there is nothing to call it other than the “silly” season because it is “silly” after all! All our behaviours do turn rather odd at this time!
Too true. Your list is a gruelling schedule of stale conventions and unintended consequences that only serve to deplete our energies further as the season progresses.
Absolutely Cathy. And all in the sake of ‘tradition’. It seems totally ridiculous. What a sacrifice. I would now much rather continue to take care of myself and avoid the roller-coaster!
Too true Steffen, with all that attention on the one day its no surprise that it cannot live up to the expectations we put on it.
Steffen your observations are spot on including why it IS called the silly season. We put so much pressure on ourselves to have Christmas picture perfect and put much less effort into living lovingly the other 364 days. It is crazy and accounts for the flare-ups and disappointments some experience at this time of the year,
Steffen, great observations, how we as a society live for special occasions like Christmas where we go on a bout of self-abuse to celebrate, or else further cement our on-going neglect – how crazy indeed. Yet as you clearly show, it’s about living lovingly every day and not just one, now that is a way to live. I know I used to hate Christmas and New Year’s Eve also, so much pressure and so much stress. In the last few years since I’ve attended Universal Medicine courses, I’ve changed how I approach it, it is another day and I use the extra time off work to rest and to take time if needed.
We are all so aware it is the “silly season” as each year a lot of reference is made to how stressful and unreal it is, yet we don’t make the changes and say enough, I’m not accepting that anymore. That is where the silly really comes into its own.
Steffen, lovely expression of this time. I always however used to look forward to it – saw it as a time that everything would be better and I can forget the rest of what’s going on in my life. That I could, in reality – take a long vacation even before Christmas to keep me occupied. With the support of Universal Medicine that is no longer needed – and it’s great to see how clearly you’ve expressed the insanity in Christmas. We’re in August in the UK now and yesterday shopping in London one of the stores had Christmas songs and a Christmas Shop!! To me that is anything but appreciating the present – 5 months of preparation for one day!
Thank you Steffen for so clearly expressing the elements that make up the ‘silly season’ and the answer being “living each day lovingly without all the punishment we inflict on ourselves – this would be like Christmas every day and a true festival of Love.”
All very true! Thank you, Steffen for expressing.
I agree it is the silly season, and what I find bizarre is when I choose not to over eat and indulge in foods that I know do not work well for me, it is viewed as me not enjoying myself. It is like there is an idea that when it is a celebratory occasion we need to eat in ways we know our body does not cope with, to be celebrate and have fun, even though our body loudly tells us it is not fun.
Thanks Steffen for writing about this. I agree with what you have observed.
Since I began loving myself I don’t yearn for the Christmas I used to know either
– it’s like I don’t need it anymore like I used too. Could it be that the true joy and love I am getting to know is perfectly satisfying and sustaining for me?
Very valid points, Steffen, it would be great for this to make it into mainstream news.
Yes, very well said Steffen – the word is very appropriate and the craziest thing is, I rarely meet a person these days who doesn’t say as much themselves, particularly in the lead-up.
I love how you have so clearly outlined why much behaviour around Xmas and New Year is ‘silly’, Steffen. The silliest thing about it all is that so much time, money thought and effort is invested in making these few days and others seem really ‘special’.
In truth every day can be special for each and every one of us. I have found there are many gems to enjoy in a day, if I am open to seeing them. All that is needed is a change of perspective and deciding to treasure each and every moment we have as we experience it. I have found there doesn’t have to be any razzmatazz, bells, whistles, drums or fireworks for a day to be special – just for me to be present with myself to the best of my ability in the moment – not thinking of anything that is still to be done or dwelling on anything that has happened already. Best of all, I don’t have to wait for the ‘Silly Season’ to come around again to experience ‘special’ days.
Well said Judy, yes taking the moment and feeling it, nothing special yet absolutely normal as we stay with us. And it does just take a change of perspective, we can do it at any time, any moment, any day.
We all have the choice to make it a life of loving choices every day!
I will share this with many others, thanks Steffen pointing it out so clear we need to see for what we do, again and again every year the same, and that it is not the true way for ourselves and our bodies.
Well said, Steffen. We do have to ask ‘why’ people so readily give up on being self-caring and over-indulge, stress out, etc. Where IS the love in every single day? From my experience, it takes time to really know and build this love into every day, and yet as a result of my ‘dedication to date’ (ever a work in progress!), in recent ‘silly seasons’ I have been perfectly content eating just what I felt I needed. The joy I know within myself is far too great to mar via over-indulgence (though I’ve been surrounded by it, and observed those around me become lethargic, less vital, less joyful & virtually non-communicative as a result of what they’ve chosen).
Nothing to judge, but just observe – I used to be right in there indulging myself! For the practitioner, a real test to watch those particularly with chronic conditions undo months of their own great work & loving care – and again, we have to ask, ‘why’?
I agree Victoria, and a great observation from Steffan. The love we associate with Christmas should be there in our daily lives, not reserved for special occasions,. It really is crazy. And then we go and pollute that love by doing too much, buying too much, eating and drinking too much. All so that we can be seen to be ‘enjoying ourselves’. No thank you. Small, fun gifts chosen from the heart, eating only what I feel to eat, perhaps a nice walk and time with friends and family. Celebration, not stress, I’ll say yes to that.
This perspective on Christmas, most people making unloving choices and suffering health wise, is crazy. It’s beyond silly. Having it known as the silly season gives people an excuse to be silly about the choices they are making. It fools people into believing that at this time of year they do not have to be responsible for their physical and mental health. It’s great that Steffen has written about it and the effects on our health.
Hi Sally, it is beyond silly yes, but how is it we are so stuck in it that we don’t actually see it for what it is and yet we all feel it.