Looks like mother nature is helping us get into the holiday season early this year by dowsing us all in a premature wintry

mix of snow and cold.

I can’t stop thinking that our early winter weather is some weird cosmic joke. A joke dripping in the irony of our materialistic obsession to fill stores with Christmas glitter and lights before Halloween and the daily commercials that beckon us to enjoy an entire month of Black Friday specials.

This isn’t global warming, it’s just a reflection of what we asked for – Christmas in October.

My cynicism towards the extreme commercialism of the holidays cannot be denied. It’s a cover for my deep disappointment that the true essence of the season – which is something like “Peace on Earth” -- seems to get lost in the din of tinsel and Jingle Bell Rock songs.

For me, the spirit of peace on earth is better understood as goodwill toward all. Goodwill – my sincere wish that all people feel safe, loved and cared about and have everything they need for their well-being – is the equivalent of sugar plums dancing in my head.

Sure, this sounds great but wishes aren’t really actions. To really bring a meaningful experience to the holidays, we need to infuse our actions and words with the energetic qualities of goodwill.

Having an attitude of goodwill and sending that vibration out into the masses is the goal of many spiritual groups all over the world, and wouldn’t you know it, there is a very special spiritual festival week relating to goodwill coming up on this year’s winter solstice.

Every seven years, a cosmic alignment occurs, bringing a tide of Capricornian influences into humanity, which can be understood as a large influx of goodwill energy. That event will take place Dec. 21-28 of this year.

You may wonder why something like this only comes every seven years. Seems like we could use that goodwill vibe juice every year to speed things up down here.

The answer is simple: Our heads would literally blow off our shoulders. There’s no way the life forms on the planet could handle that much voltage.

The energy of goodwill is no joke, and it’s not just a warm fuzzy feeling. It is a force, and it’s got some kick to it, which is a fun way of saying it has a destructive quality to it. The energy of goodwill needs some elbow room to express itself, and that means something’s gotta go bye-bye. I think we could use less hatred and greed.

Clearly the system isn’t trying to kill us; it’s wanting to inspire humanity toward betterment for all life. We get to pick what that betterment is, that’s the fun part, but do we need people who are willing to connect with this goodwill energy and act on that inspiration.

When people of good heart (sincere caring) encounter thought forms energized with goodwill, there is great potential for something very interesting to happen. These thought forms can provide inspiration for a new vision, or a new way of doing something in the face of the challenges that are currently before us.

This is what the world’s governments are strangely lacking in at the moment. Within the governments of most countries, we see turmoil, unrest and conflict. Things are not going well; people are deeply unhappy and often taking to the streets in protest.

I think it’s fair to say citizens of the world are all feeling the unfairness of the rigged systems that benefit the few at the expense of the masses. We are demanding change, which is a good thing, but people need a new thing to move toward.

The leaders within our own government appear to be completely lost in their dysfunction, and no one seems to know how to move forward. Our democracy has been burned to the ground, and it doesn’t exist anymore.

Out of the 17 Democratic candidates for president, we don’t see anyone with any real new vision or goals to strive toward. We can’t waste time trying to make the broken thing work; we need something different.

It is my hope that this upcoming influx of goodwill energy will soon inspire individuals or groups within governments all over the world with the new and better visions and ideas of how governments and institutions can function more efficiently to benefit all citizens.

Better still, maybe each of us can aspire to embrace these concepts of goodwill and betterment to find our inspiration of how to express that energy through our own thoughts and actions. I can’t think of a better time of year than the holidays to try this out.

I wish each and every one of you the light of well-being and the warmth of kindness. Happy Holidays!