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Susie Kher

🌙 December's dark charm

Published 6 months ago • 2 min read

As you read this, I'll be on a plane bound for New York City, embarking on what might just be a new holiday tradition. For the first time, we're traveling to spend Christmas with two of our boys, a reversal of the usual journey that brings them home.

Before I left, I found an hour of stillness by the fire to reflect on this highly anticipated month we call December. We pack a lot into it, more I think than any other month: joyful festivities, mysteries, travel and vacations, gatherings with friends and family, and myriad spiritual and folk traditions filled with light and hope. Yet right smack in the middle of all the celebration, I'm longing for something deeper. I want to wander away from the festive lights and into December's dark charm. Something is pulling me out of my usual holiday mindset even as I hang lights and write greeting cards.

I have to laugh at how my external journey seems at odds with my inner wanderings. NYC is always on, never quiet and never knows true darkness. Yet, I know that regardless of constant sirens, honking taxis and rumbling subways, I can step into any dimly lit church in the city and be instantly transported to the deepest part of my true being. The same goes for antique shops and old bookshops.

I ask you: Have you felt the pull of December’s darker charm? What luminous truths are you finding there? I want to know.

TO THE FRIEND IN THE DARK: You’ve been walking through shadows, wondering if the light will ever return. It's time to remember that in the dark, your light burns even brighter.

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A week before Christmas it's all about Mary

Holy Mother with wolves. Comfort, guidance and vision from Our ​Blessed Mother. Undoer of knots and many other names of Mary. Rosemary and Divine Mother. Full of Grace (the movie). Mary the mystic and force for social justice. Hundreds of Black Madonnas inspire followers.

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SOMETHING TO LET GO OF

The belief that we need to let go of anything

I hope you're a little surprised to hear me offer letting go of needing to let go, given how often I talk about releasing obstacles to our growth. Bear with me!

There certainly are beliefs, thoughts, stories and projections that prevent us from fully stepping into the Truth of Who We Are. But I've noticed a lot of people get tripped up on (1) "needing" to let go of something and (2) frustration when their intentional release doesn't make it disappear.

It's really just a shift in perception that's needed here, to clarify what we're actually letting go of.

Here's the shift. The "thing" being released is less important than our reaction to said thing. For example, let's say that I wanted to let go of feeling angry about my living situation. If my eyes are not fully open, I will think I am letting go of the living situation. But what I am needing to release is my reactions to and judgments of my living situation. This means that the living situation can stay exactly the same, but my mind and heart will have aligned with Spirit allowing a new awareness come upon me that the real obstacle is the story I tell myself about the living situation.

INNER GOLD​
​I recognize that the sacred essence
of letting go is not about discarding
something outside myself,
but about releasing my own
reactions and judgments.

Before you go...

🐘 In the animal kingdom, wise elders have value

🌙 Going for night walks is very calming

📆 How Advent calendars became a Christmas tradition

😇 Saint Olympias and holy widows that became saints

🙀When ego is running the show: holiday phobias​

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The truth in you remains
as radiant as a star,
as pure as light,
as innocent as love itself.
(ACIM, T-31.VI.7:4)

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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Susie Kher

Coaching - Guidance - Joyous Gatherings

Weekly-ish guidance delivered to your inbox. Each issues is a mix of spirited, useful and insightful information designed for highly sensitive souls desiring deeper self-awareness, healing, laughter, and more peaceful relationships.

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