One of the best parts of developing a meditation practice is when everything starts to become “real.”

When we start to see the things around us, as if we are seeing them for the first time.

An ant walking across a trail is suddenly so alive.

A bird flying above us becomes more beautiful than ever.

Our relationships with others, ourselves and the entire earth becomes something sacred.

This is what happens when we stop being caught up in our habitual, neurotic thought patterns and touch into the moment. We start to see meaning everywhere.

But do we also see meaning in the religious holidays we celebrate?

Yes, chocolate bunnies are delicious and a good ole’ easter egg hunt is fun and all but in the celebrating of the holiday are we finding something real? Are we touching in to something sacred?

In my house there are Easter celebrations and Passover Seder plans occurring simultaneously.

A lot of religious holiday celebrating.

Massive coming together to remember something.

But what are we remembering?

Most of the time, I am not sure.

But what I do know, is what I want to remember.

I want to remember that everything is sacred, that we need to take care of each other, that we need to take care of ourselves and that the best way to do this is by touching into a benevolent source that is greater than us—who is open to us all the time.

This is how I want to spend my time.

Connected to something greater.

And not in a cognitive way, but in a way that lights up my entire body and mind.

This is what I want to do when I celebrate, it is what I do alone, but my guess is, as humans, it is what we once did together when we celebrated religious holidays.

So, this year I will go through the motions of hiding the Easter eggs, setting the Passover table, saying the prayers and eating the chocolate.

But inside I’ll be connecting to what is real to me and dreaming of a way in future holidays to find a way to bring that connection to the communal holiday.

 ~

Relephant Read:

What Easter is (Not) About.

~

Author: Ruth Lera

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: flickr

~

Facebook is in talks with major corporate media about pulling their content into FB, leaving other sites to wither or pay up if we want to connect with you, our readers. Want to stay connected before the curtain drops? Sign up for our curated, quality newsletters below.