Physician Healer

Issue 43 Nostalgia: Embracing The New

Nostalgia: Embracing The New

For the past year, as many of you readers know, I have been avidly embarking on a new life journey, leaping out of my dearly beloved comfort zone and have strategically conditioned my mind to move steadily forward, like a hero and warrior (as Robin Sharma would encourage). Striving to never look back, never to let anyone or anything pull me down, telling me what I can and cannot do that is in my heart’s passion, allowing all the old stories and patterns to shed and peel off, I have kept my mind focused. I have been meditating my release from the symbolic “old planet” and embracing the “new planet” (as Kyle Cease so cleverly described).

Consistently, most days, I have journaled, meditated, learned something new everyday, read at least 10 pages of a book, stretched and worked out to avoid being left behind by time, to avoid regression and stagnation as they say. And, I have shared all these methods with you as my readers, never expecting you to follow everything that I do, as this is my life and you have yours, but perhaps offering you something helpful for you to take away whatever resonated with you in your stage of life.

Now that it is December, the month of Christmas, it’s as if this ginormous hand has appeared in front of me, gently placing its loving self on my shoulder, softly easing me back, whispering for me to slow down and that it is perfectly ok to allow myself to feel nostalgic and bring back fond memories of my past. I smile graciously at this generous offer and tears well up in my eyes, for I do love my memories of Christmas. All of them.

My parents used to hang a humble red string from one end of the family room to the other over the dining table where we ate everyday. (On occasions when we had guests, we would use the table in the formal dining room). In the weeks before Christmas, I remember seeing less and less of that red string as it began filling up with cards from all the people we knew.

We always had an artificial tree that my dad would assemble each year after Thanksgiving, as my mom was allergic to live plants and flowers. He would place one silver and one gold garland and the strands of colored lights just so. An old white bedsheet served as the snowy white tree skirt. As I am remembering more details as I continue to write this passage, my heart hurts and aches, wishing that our relationship was different than how it became. Oh well, the past cannot be changed. Didn’t I teach you guys that? (I am taking a few minutes to be with this and to be ok with feeling sad and disappointed).

Moving right long, it wasn’t until my brother was older that he would bring home a live tree for the first time because of the gorgeous way it smelled. The entire living room would be transformed into this pine forest with its fragrance. My mom also loved the smell of fresh pine and would then take her allergy medications.

As I get older, I find myself increasingly drawn into nostalgia during Christmas time. It has always been my most favorite holiday. As kids, we always had 2 weeks off school; but, it wasn’t even about the time off. We obviously had more time off during the summer. It has always represented a time of busy but “happy busy.” It embodied the hurried hustling and bustling of happiness and gift finding and giving. My mom always brought the whole family to the department stores to get gifts for our teachers. I remember mountains of perfumed soaps and designer neckties on our dining table while my dad carefully wrapped everything. This allowed me to play Santa at school. I loved it. I loved the smiles. I loved the feeling.

Each morning these days on the way to work, I absolutely look forward to the Christmas songs being played on the radio stations. They bring me back to my favorite childhood days.

To say that this year is different from any other year of my life would be the understatement of the decade. There have been many firsts this year. This is the first time I’ve lived alone for almost 6 months without family or roommates. This is the first time I had to discover who I am as myself with only myself. What was I capable of? Left to my own devices, would I still be disciplined enough to meditate, journal, read, learn new things everyday, etc.? This is the first time I am surrounded by water everywhere, by beautiful birds and other wildlife everyday when I venture out. This is the first time I am 10 minutes away from seeing the sun set behind the water, everyday, if I wished.

This week, I chuckled as I realized that my favorite Christmas songs are still the ones I grew up listening to. One in particular is Glen Campbell’s rendition of "Christmas Is For Children.” I always loved the melody and thought the lyrics were nice as a child. The other day as I listened to it for the first time in years, I felt a twinge of the bittersweet, so I actually paid attention to the lyrics (writers Sammy Cahn, James Van Heusen). If you don’t know the song or have forgotten it, you can listen to it on Spotify or Apple Music.

"Christmas - is for children 🎵

Just for children

Grown-ups say

Santa’s down the chimney

That’s for children

Like the reindeer

And the sleigh

That same tale is told

Every Christmas Eve again

We may think we’re old

But our hearts can almost

Believe again

Christmas - is for children

But aren’t we all children

Christmas day

That electric train

That no one could tempt Papa with

Will someone explain

Why it’s all that Papa

Will bother with

I guess Christmas

Is for children

But aren’t we all children

Christmas day” 🎵

It strangely brought sentimental tears to my eyes. As an adult paying attention to the lyrics, I realized how Christmas brings out that inner child within me wondering if at the end despite all, did she do anything that made her parents proud and if she was seen. Suddenly, an intense awareness of all these changes I had lived through came rushing into my mind like this overdue deluge. I realized this overwhelm was rooted in my neglect to fully acknowledge them. Perhaps part of growth is to recognize and pay homage to our past and to properly say goodbye. Hmmm…is it possible that maybe I haven’t done that?

Back to country legend Glen Campbell. I remember my mom used to ask me why he was my favorite singer. I didn’t know then. I still don’t know now. Weirdly, all I can say is that for some reason, I’ve always found his voice calming and friendly. I’ve never been a country music fan. He used to have a TV variety show and I remember we used to watch it on the weekends as a family activity. Maybe, that’s what it was. It was what he symbolized for me—happy times with my family.

Remembering Christmas always brings me back to when I was a little person feeling ever so excited for what would be under the tree from Santa on December 25th. I remember trying to keep myself awake the best I could on Christmas Eve to strain to listen for Santa’s footsteps, in hopes of catching all of the beautiful reindeer that would be with him. After all, the cartoons must have had it right. Maybe, I thought, I could spot an elf or 2. But, inevitably, I’d fall asleep and then by the time my eyelids opened, it would be early Christmas morning. My dad would come into our rooms to wake us up, announcing that something was happening under the tree.

So, at this moment as I am writing this for all of you to have a glimpse of something very close to my heart, I am also saying that although the past isn’t a good place to set up permanent shop, it is a wonderful reference library to check out experiences and lessons from before, but to remember to return them when done borrowing for viewing.

I have learned today that it is ok, even necessary to be nostalgic. Respect and love our past. That is as much who we were as who we are now. We could not be what we are, who we are, where we are this moment without what we did, what happened to us or who we were. The past gives us the green light to embrace everything that we are as we continue to move forward with courage, confidence, peace, joy and love for ourselves.

Whatever you are celebrating this time of year, this is my Christmas gift to you, my lovely readers. I send you all intentions of love, peace, joy, light, and harmonious prosperity today and in the coming New Year!

Merry Christmas! 🎄⛄️❄️💫

With Love and Gratitude,

Celeste Amaya, MD

Meditation and Relaxation (Accessing 3 Meridian points). For a more complete pictorial guide please refer to Issue 36 “Coming Home” the October 23, 2021 issue.

1) Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Inhale slowly and track the breath down into the belly and expand the belly, taking 5-7 seconds. Hold for 3 seconds and then exhale through the mouth as if you are sighing and releasing heaviness, taking 5-7 seconds. Repeat 2-3 more times.

2) Access the Meridian point located at the blade of the right hand with the fingers of the left hand and apply a gentle repetitive pressure or tapping. Switch hands and repeat. While accessing the blades of the hands you can continue the breathing exercises in number 1). Recall the blades of the hands are the “karate chop” areas.

3) Now, access the chest Meridian points on both sides with the finger tips of both hands and apply a gentle tapping motion. You can also choose to do one side at a time. While doing this, you can either continue the breathing as described above or you can begin adding intentional questions (examples were given in previous issues from October and November). Here is a short list:

—Why is my life and my family’s life so incredible that I didn’t notice before?

—Why is everything so amazing in our lives that I didn’t notice before?

—How are our lives just smoothly falling into place that I didn’t notice before?

—How are we experiencing so much good luck no matter what?

—Why are we attracting so much love, joy and peace that weren’t there before?

—Why are so strong and healthy that we didn’t notice before?

—How is there so much magic everywhere we turn that wasn’t there before?

4) Continue on with the Meridian points on both brow areas (the side near the forehead) with either the breathing or the intentional questions as above.

5) Conclude with the breathing exercises as in 1) and then open the eyes slowly when finished and begin your day if in the morning. If it is bedtime, just close your eyes and go to sleep.

Thank you, as always, for reading. I hope you found at least one thing meaningful. Please click the LIKE button ♥️ if you enjoyed this article. If you think someone you know would benefit from my stories, please click SHARE and have them SUBSCRIBE for free. Guided meditations will be available soon in podcast format so be sure to SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss that. Click COMMENTS if there was something you liked specifically or if this reminded you of something in your life.