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This week’s Advent reflection is by Covenant Companion Dave Pfeiffer:
Lately, the feelings that have been the dominant flavors of my internal emotional stew have been fear, anger, disbelief, shock, and dismay. I have been residing far too much in the fight/flight/freeze/fawn space of the amygdala of my brain, reacting viscerally to what I experience around me. This is good and necessary when facing a situation, a glass full of orange juice teetering on the edge of a counter, where a rapid and urgent reaction is essential, but it does not create fertile ground for cultivating peace.
I need to give my mind and spirit the gift of time and space. I need to give my amygdala some much-needed rest to shift from auto-pilot to engagement. I need to take the time my mind needs to actually process and consider everything that is taking place around me; to ponder.
Advent is made for pondering! The cadence of short winter days leaves time for walks on cold, starry nights that awaken my pondering reflex. Pondering prepares and softens the soil of my spirit so that the peace I seek to be can take root and grow.
May you have good pondering this Advent!