Happy December!

Right now, I’m sitting in bed, fresh from slaying what may have easily been 300 to 400 ants. Since the first week of December, these pesky insects have staged a coop, determined to take over the laundry room with it’s succulent cat food offerings with an eye toward the crown jewel, the kitchen.

The ants are doing what most ants do…the trudge on to glory. Wave after wave of them breech the front that is my house and when twenty are killed on the battlefield (a.k.a. my kitchen floor) twenty more take their place. For all the squeamishness I have about ants, I have to give them my grudging respect…they continue on. They endure. That indomitable spirit is what makes revolution and indeed any change possible. I just wish it weren’t my house they were conquering.

December, a 5-month universally, is typically given over to tradition and custom, a time to return to familiar patterns of family and convention. But this month’s vibration invites anything but the tried and true. 5 energy beckons us to try something new, to push past our boundaries…something that is rather complicated for those of trained to adhere to the demands of a North American December.

But this scope isn’t going to say you should rise above Christmas, Chaunuka or Kwanzaa or eschew your New Year’s festivities in slavish devotion to whatever is “new”. What I am suggesting is to view everything in a new light. Resist the urge to rush through every obligatory celebration and activity, just because you know the routine. The habitual can often desensitize us to life, allowing us to skip over the deeper truths (the good and the bad) and hidden blessings, however modest. 5 urges us to experience life at it’s fullest, to delve into it with the gusto of a tiny ant forging a new trail.

Incidentally, the ant invasion was precipitated by a change in our habits…my partner cleaned out a long neglected and bulging closet…and the next day the onslaught began. So don’t be surprised if that something new begets something completely unexpected. It is part and parcel of our experience of life, to adjust and grow when encountering the unknown. The trick is to celebrate the breakthroughs while adapting to the inevitable changes in our old ways. Have a wonderful, adventurous December.