somewheres in the mid to late 80's --with much support from my therapy network-- i declared december to be, "therapy month." december is, essentially, one prolonged trauma anniversary for me. kiddie whorehouses get especially --ahem-- lively during the holidays. i am far from alone in the december trauma factory. i've had many, many sibs-in-healing to share my december therapy with. from the decades of treating december as therapy month arose "the happy bah humbug."

this year finds me wrestling with the paradigm shift of the happy bah humbug i enjoyed in 2017 and the mega ho ho which culminated this morning with my 3 orphans ripping through the packages beneath the tree. it is still therapy, but therapy for recently traumatized children is quite different than therapy for a 30something ptsd sufferer. in 2018, playing up christmas seemed like a dandy distraction for children who had recently been seized into protective custody during a police intervention. even more so a year later when they were grieving the death of their parents. now? ? ? this year is feeling a bit less cathartic and more ? ? ? traditional? ? ?

anyhoo. . . this morning's meditation from "hope for today" is resonating and here comes the share

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serenity is. . .

. . .a way of life absorbed slowly and practiced one day at a time . . . perspective . . . becoming aware of and accepting my many characteristics and not judging what's "bad" or "good" but what's useful to keep and what to release . . a spiritual journey without a destination . . . the space between the impulse and the action . . . accepting what is . . . honoring my feelings without aming them at someone else or letting them run my life . . . a gift i choose to give myself . . . knowing that what works for someone else may not necessarily work for me . . . knowing that what works for me may change from moment to moment . . . understanding i may be powerless, but i am not helpless.  . . realizing my higher power does for me what i cannot do for myself . . . minding my own business. . . the comfort of knowing i can hold my own hand. . . balance and relief from black-and-white thinking . . . understanding that reacting to life and responding to life are not the same thing . . . deliberate realignment with my higher power . . . feeling at peace with my past . . . a matter of internal stability . . . becoming complete with my body and mind in one place at the same time . . . becoming at one with my higher power.

thought for today

serenity opens my mind to knew ideas.

dios concedeme la serenidad para acceptar las cosas que no puedo cambiar

valor para camiar aquellas que puedo

y sabiduria para reconocer la diferencia

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i hope i wasn't too bold in translating "the serenity prayer" to spanish. no se porque. . .