Christmas is only 2 or 3 days away, depending on whether you count the 24th or the 25th as the first day.
For most people nowadays this is a time to celebrate with their family, to escape work stress for some days and to exchange gifts of love. While all of these are wonderful reasons none of them touch the true meaning of Christmas at all. Understanding this time and its innate power is indeed a chance to grow and overcome many obstacles in your life
Christmas is about being unconquerable. It is about overcoming all hardships, all problems and about coming out as a winner, no matter what.
If that is something you are interested, then read on.
Historical Meaning and Etymology.
First, you need to know, where the name and the selection of the date came from. Looking up a long article at Wikipedia you'll find two interesting parts.
The word Christmas originated as a compound meaning "Christ's Mass". It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038.[6] "Cristes" is from Greek Christos and "mæsse" is from Latin missa (the holy mass). In Greek, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ, and it, or the similar Roman letter X, has been used as an abbreviation for Christ since the mid-16th century.[13] Hence, Xmas is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas.
So yes, the name means that we are to celebrate a holy mass for Christ. And the abbreviation Xmas is much older than you might have thought. There is also a long article about the word "Christ" at Wikipedia - well worth reading. You might find the Gnostic interpretation of the word "Christ" interesting. The Gnostics didn't believe that Jesus was a divine person with a human form. Instead, they believed in a spiritual Christ who dwelt in Jesus. That would mean, that what would be celebrated on the day of Christmas was not a mass for a person who was born over 2,0000 years ago, but it is about celebrating a spiritual birth within each one of us.
But this article is not about these religious aspects. It is about the practical implications that these days can bring to us.
If you read the Wikipedia article about "Christmas" a little further, you will find the following passage:
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means "the birthday of the unconquered Sun." The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the god of Emperor Aurelian; and Mithras, a soldiers' god of Persian origin.[49] Emperor Elagabalus (218–222) introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday.[50] This day had previously been dedicated to Bacchus, in the Brumalia festival. Bruma being latin for "shortest day."[51]
The festival was placed on the date of the solstice because this was on this day that the Sun reversed its southward retreat and proved itself to be "unconquered." Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus.[6] "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born...Christ should be born", Cyprian wrote.[6] John Chrysostom also commented on the connection: "They call it the 'Birthday of the Unconquered'. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord . . .?"[6]
There you find, that these days have always been used to celebrate the winter solstice. The time of the year, where the darkness in our lives (the external darkness of the day and maybe also the internal darkness of our souls) reaches its height. We experience the longest night. But just when it looks like the nights would only get longer and colder, the sun returns to grow, the days are getting longer and the warmth is slowly coming back. It is because of this supposed battle of light vs. darkness that people associated their own lives with the story of the sun. Nearly battled by the darkness, the sun at this time of the year shows itself as unconquerable and wins - every year again. It is this quality of being unconquerable that attracted the early Christians to associate this quality and therefore, the celebration of this solstice with Jesus.
Becoming Unconquerable - The 3 Steps
There are 3 steps that Christmas can teach us about becoming unconquerable. This wouldn't be an UNWRAPPED-article, if you hadn't something practical to do. So get out your journal and make sure you aren't disturbed for some time.
Here is what you should do...
1. Become Aware of Your Own Darkness
There is no power in negating an enemy. If you want to win and become unconquerable you must face your darkness, your fears, your worries. While most people want to escape this darkness through shopping, celebrating, dining with family or taking the holidays, the true power comes only to those who are willing to face the enemy and are going to win this time. Are you ready?
Get out a piece of paper or your journal and just write down:
What am I afraid of? What worries me?
Then answer these 2 questions in as much time as you need. Don't be afraid, decide to face all of them now. Bring them out on paper. It is just you and your journal, so dump it all out.
2. Decide to Become Unconquerable
There is so much power in making a real decision. The word comes from the Latin word for "to cut off". You are cutting away all other options with a true decision.
Decide now that you are going to be unconquerable. That you are like the sun (and if you like, that the spirit of Christ is within you) and you will not be overcome by the darkness in your life, but that these days will be the darkest days you'll accept. From now on, you will overcome darkness by expressing the qualities and powers of light. Really associate yourself with a sun in their weakest phase of power, but regaining the old strength of light and warmth. It is essential that you get that feeling of power and being unconquerable in your body because being able to re-trigger that feeling again is crucial when you are about to face your fears and worries.
3. Overcome the Darkness and Become the Source of Light in Your Life
With this power that you feel inside yourself, take a look at the list of fears and worries.
Then take out another sheet or go to another page in your journal and write down:
"How would an unconquerable source of light like me handle these fears, worries, and problems?
How am I overcoming these things from now on?"
Now that you've switched focus from being powerless and a victim of your fears and worries to being a powerful source of light and being unconquerable it is time to brainstorm some real-world solutions to your problems.
It is essential to stay in the feeling of power while doing this. If you feel worries creeping back into you, you remember and re-trigger again the feeling of power you've made through your decision. Again, the feeling of power is what counts here!
Once you've finished your brainstorming, decide when to do the necessary steps, schedule if needed. Remember that an unconquerable person will not wish that something will change - he or she will make the change.
Turn Christmas from a wishing time to a changing time.
Whenever needed, speak to yourself these words of power and remember the feeling of strength and being unconquerable.
"I am an unconquerable source of light. No matter how much darkness I will experience, I always remember that darkness is not existent in itself, it is just absent of light. Once I remember my powers of light, I will overcome darkness and become unconquerable again."
Conquer your life and your life will never be the same after this Christmas.
