A Gratitude and Giving Game for the Holidays

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Issue #78, November 25, 2003

Sagittarius (November 22nd- December 20th) helps creates the atmosphere for the season of parties and get-togethers. Although Sagittarius likes its adventures to be fun, it is not about frivolous entertainment. Sagittarius is about spiritual transformation, expanded visions and higher perspectives. I think this is one reason why we often feel exhausted, and get sick during the holiday season. We are so busy trying to do everything we think we have to get done that we don't take time to connect with our spirit. Caught in the frenzy, we get emptied instead of fulfilled.

Do you ever go to parties and come back feeling drained? One reason for this is that we are out there when we socialize. We are responding and accommodating to outside stimulation. We are giving and trying to get attention.

This issue offers a game you can play during the Thanksgiving weekend and the Holiday season. The idea is to create holiday entertainment that combines both giving and upliftment. We can have a good time and socialize while we give ourselves attention, take care of our emotions, communicate with ourselves and connect with our Spirit. For this game, you take YOURSELF to the social event and come back with YOURSELF intact. When you are your own date with your own entertainment, you can return home feeling fulfilled and expanded.

Basic Instructions

• Adopt an attitude of gratitude and hold the feeling of gratitude inside yourself.
• Take gratitude to a new level by expanding the feeling into your emotional body.
• Offer a smile, a warm feeling, or a compassionate thought to those you are with or casually encounter.
• Bless others, situations and yourself. Keep on blessing with the feeling in your emotional body. Make BLESSINGS and BLESS YOU your mantra.
• Give thanks. Be thankful to be alive. Make THANK YOU your mantra.

The Rules of the Game

1. Make this your personal inner game.
2. Share gifts of thanks, blessings, kindness and compassion WITHOUT verbal communication. You can do this as you speak and interact with others. But the gift is a feeling, not a vocal communication.
3. Focus on the ENERGY, FEELINGS and CONVERSATION inside yourself.
4. Monitor how YOU feel, not how the other person responds. This exercise is about YOU, not about others. Although you will probably notice others reactions, the important thing is to notice your own reactions, responses, emotions and feelings. What happens inside you? What happens to your thoughts, physical body and emotions?
5. Notice how you may want to control others responses in order to feel safe, or how you may reach out to get attention, be acknowledged and feel loved. These actions are driven by inner insecurity, which is the basis of codependence and a lot of self-created pain and suffering. In reality, nothing outside ourselves can truly make us feel secure. We have to learn how to feel safe by generating thoughts and feelings that make us feel comfortable and content.
6. Acknowledge both your comfortable and uncomfortable feelings, and be with them without judgment or analysis. Give yourself empathy when negative emotions surface. By feeling your feelings, you will engage your emotional body to know, heal and love yourself.

This game obliges you to focus on yourself. Your interaction is between YOU and YOU. In fact, when you are not focusing on your own thoughts and feelings, you are out of the game. The more you practice, the more you will create self-contentment and self-containment. You more you can stay in the game, the more you will learn to choose thoughts and feelings that generate a sense of satisfaction.

Possible Outcomes

There will be many outcomes to this game. We can be entertained and amuse ourselves. We can generate a feeling of contentment that leads to inner peace and happiness. We can release judgment, and experience waves of compassion for others and ourselves. We can be more in the present and accept ourselves, things, others, and the way they are. We can become less attached to and dependent upon outside stimulation and input. We can become the source of our own joy.

You will notice that this is a win-win game. It is, above all, a game. Don't take it too seriously. Have fun. Be your own party for the holidays. Please share your results.

Kundalini Yoga - Magic Mantra

This game sounds great until we run into situations that really bother us. This is where we call upon our divine mantra friends. Chanting a mantra out loud or internally can break our obsessive and negative thought patterns. Any sacred mantra will work. However, here is one I especially recommend for the holiday season.

EK ONG KAAR
SAT GUR PRASAD
SAT GUR PRADAD
EK ONG KAAR

EK ONG KAAR means The creator of all is one. or We are all one.
SAT GUR PRASAD means This is the true gift.

This is a very sacred mantra and should be chanted with reverence. Simply chant it in a rhythmic monotone. Chant once, five times, eleven times or as long as you wish. Allow the vibration that conveys the gift of oneness to infuse your being. This mantra was recorded on the CD Circle of Light by Gurudass. You can listen to it using our player (below), and see if you are uplifted by this music too.

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For those of you who have Transitions to a Heart-Centered World, the Magic Mantra Meditation using this mantra is on page 182.

Have a Happy, Hilarious Thanksgiving!

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