12 Ways Meditation Can Give You More Joy and Less Stress During the Holidays: Day 7

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 7 Meditation: Hold your ideal high. The holidays are stressful partly because the reality of the holiday season may reveal how far we are from the ideals of love, friendship, harmony, generosity, and We may feel like giving up, like it would be easier to just forget about all this, and not try so hard. The problem is, giving up is a defeat. The longing behind these ideals doesn’t simply go away, either. It gets distorted into cynicism and bitterness. What we need is to hold the ideals high. An ideal is like a star -- let it shine brightly in the sky. Let the sense of idealism drive you on, even while you recognize that it's unattainable. That is the nature of ideals; if we could attain an ideal, in this limited existence, it wouldn't be ideal. Nonetheless, an ideal reminds us that there is a perfect reality in the world of spirit, a reminder that we sorely need, for it is human nature to strive for perfection. Meditation offers a chance to explore the height of your ideal within your heart.