Xmas is a wonderful time of year for most of us. It’s a time to reconnect with family particularly. But for many people, Xmas is the most stressful time of the year. Families are a complex mix of love and hate; pride and jealousy; and care and callousness. Simply seeing family once a year can trigger memories that you have tried to bury year after year!

Just this year, can you leave it all to rest? Spending time with difficult people is the greatest reflection of how far you have progressed on your own life journey. Can you maintain equanimity when someone is deliberately needling you and trying to get a reaction? Can you just smile and let it go? Can you rise above the small-mindedness of childhood?

Yes, you can. Breath in patience (because in this moment you feel like killing your relative!), and breath out forgiveness and compassion. If you can do this over a few hours, you will feel lighter and relieved of burden. That person no longer holds any control over you and your emotions. The karmic knot has been severed. It is possible and it is liberating.

You learn and grow more from life’s difficult situations than from the enjoyable ones.

Good luck on Xmas day!

Ranjit