The prompt in the title was inspired by my soulful good friend on Medium, Jenny Lane. The title of her article is Why Only on Christmas?
I read it last night, then again this morning. And it inspired me to ask all of you out there in Medium, “What is your Christmas wish this year?”
Now, some of you might want a new coffee mug, a new suit or dress, a new car, a new house, or a one-way plane ticket away from reality. And that’s all fine. Who am I to judge? Heck, I could probably ask Saint Nick for a new shiny second-hand bicycle myself.
But material objects of desire aside — and you can tell where this is going — what is it that we really want for Christmas? I’ll be the first to reply.
Nothing-ness
Let me explain. I could have written, “Nothing.” But it might have misled people into thinking I didn’t want anything. That’s not the case.
Nothingness is not a word, as far as I know, but for my monkey mind, it describes a state of complete contentment in which even the word satisfaction would corrupt its intention. In this state of mind, one worries less, expects less, hopes less, breathes mindfully, smiles more, and gives more.
This results in a possibility — and dare I say, “potential” — for the development of a growth mindset. The nerdy gene in me might even describe it as a spiritual stem cell.
Rather than nothingness being a vacuum, void of any milli-volt of brain activity, it is actually robust with neural activity akin to what some researchers have found during meditative practices.
One team of researchers, including Harvard Medical School’s Benjamin Shapero and Gaëlle Desbordes, has found changes in the amygdala — the part of the brain which is responsible for our response to fear and threats — when they investigated mindfulness-based meditation over a period of time. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to detect real-time brain activity.
The remarkable aspect of this research is that, while Desbordes disclaims any conclusive evidence, the fMRI detected sustained brain activity patterns when the subjects were doing everyday tasks, not during meditation. Does this suggest a correlation between mindfulness meditation as a stimulus and a “chilled” amygdala as its response? We’ll have to wait and see.
There is, of course, much more to their research as it pertains to the treatment of depression, which goes beyond what I intended for my article. So, let’s return to nothing. I mean, nothingness.
Allow me to reconnect my train of thought with Jenny Lane’s resonating point: why we tend to express our love and devotion to others only during this festive season. Whether it’s Christmas or Japanese Oshogatsu (New Year’s), people traditionally return “home” to reunite and celebrate the festive season with family members. It would be a tragedy if the blessings we often take for granted were neglected or rejected at “Christmas”.
I feel that our minds are over-saturated with all kinds of concerns, including those that have been influenced by social norms and expectations.
For example, what does it matter about getting the right gift for our beloved? No, really! I bet, those we love and love back equally wouldn’t give a darn what we wrap up for them for Christmas. (I, for one, am still dreaming of finding a partner to wrap me in her warm arms at Christmas…and the other 364 days of the year!)
Borrowing from Jenny Lane again — sorry, I’m happy to pay you a commission! — the world needs to promote Nowism and deeply, mindfully appreciate what we have at the moment. Nothingness is really sharing the same universe as Nowism in that our hearts and minds are not cluttered with worldly concerns that drag down our energy levels but elevate us to a higher one.
Nothingness is the key to enlightenment.
Let me conclude by quoting Buddha and wishing you a Christmas of love, peace, good health, contentment, and nothingness.
Five Steps to Happiness:
SMILE MORE
WORRY LESS
BE PRESENT
GIVE MORE
EXPECT LESS
**Namaste** (^-^)
Sources:
About Nowism: Jenny Lane
