From my very earliest Christmas memories, the annual viewing of A Muppet Christmas Carol has been a staple of of my holiday traditions. But watching it this year alongside my husband and step-nuggets, it struck me in a new way.
Because things hit different in 2020. It’s been quite a year for all of us—and I think even if you aren’t a person whose dealt with anxiety in the past, this year, you’ve probably had at least a small taste of what it’s like. And to those of you who, like myself, already struggled with it to begin with—well, I’m holding up the Hunger Games salute.
But the good news is there is a gold lining to this: anxiety is more than aimless discomfort to be stifled, it comes with a message. One that, if addressed, can lead us to healing.
The question is, though, will we bury the anxiety we feel or will we allow it to lead us to greater freedom?
I truly believe Charles Dickens was channeling a healing truth for anxious hearts when he wrote A Christmas Carol—one that we need to hear now perhaps more than ever.
The Lesson of Christmas Past
Anxiety feels like it has to do with the present, sometimes overwhelmingly, but it derives it’s power from the past. Whatever the anxious thoughts are that we face today, they are springing up from something we’ve already faced in the past. The key to stoping the cycle is uncovering the event(s) that continue to fuel these fears.
When we experience trauma (a sense of helplessness), and we don’t have the resources to cope in a healthy way, it can become deeply rooted as a memory we bury rather than move through. And thus, this trauma (or memory of helplessness) remains present with us continually. This is the nature of anxiety—it’s a tricky one indeed.
Scrooge, it seemed, hadn’t thought much of his painful past before the spirits intruded upon him with a message to relay—much like our anxiety does upon us. Prior to these events, he had long dissociated from his pain—disregarding the hurting child he once was and exiling this part of his story from his identity. Ebenezer’s healing began to take place when the Ghost of Christmas Past allowed him to behold, and thus feel, his pain. This was Scrooge’s first step toward freedom, as it is for all of us. We will never be rid of our neurosis without first acknowledging the prison our pain still holds us in.
We must move through the pain to get beyond it.
Compulsive behaviors don’t spring forth on their own—they are most often preceded by pain. And choosing to leave this pain to fester in the deep recesses of our minds makes us complicit in the selfish behaviors and dysfunctions it often brings about. Though we learn that Scrooge’s behaviors were driven by greed, I think one could also make the case that his lonely childhood, in which he was forced to fend for himself, may have led to a deep fear of helplessness that drove his greed.
Living out of our hurtful past may not feel much like a choice—but it is. And unfortunately, it’s a choice that has consequences.
The Lesson of Christmas Present
Anxiety keeps us out of the present moment, much like a bouncer at the door of a night club. It creates an inner world that is saturated with what ifs, which stands starkly opposed to the world that is.
Anxiety breeds a kind of nearsightedness that makes us unable to fully see the needs of others—sometimes, even those right in front of us. Which only drives us even deeper down the anxiety spiral, because it’s actually our ability to take up the causes of others that gives us freedom from our own.
Anxiety-mind also robs us of joy and gratitude. We cannot be grateful without presence of mind, and we cannot have presence of mind without gratefulness. When we are truly present to the moment, we can bear witness to the infinite gifts that surround us—both big and small: the companionship of a trusted friend or the way our home lights up at golden hour.
The Ghost of Christmas Present embodied joy and laughter akin to Santa Claus, and this I believe is to remind us that joy can only be experienced in the present. When our anxious minds are finally free to come fully into the moment, we will find that joy has been there waiting for us all along.
The Lesson of Christmas Future
The future can be ominous to anyone, but especially to those us who are mainly living in fear. So much so, in fact, that we often push the future out of our awareness altogether. But to one who has integrated the past and present more greatly into their awareness, the future can become a constant reminder of purpose.
It takes a great deal of courage to truly acknowledge the brevity of life, our own fragility, and our small part in the whole story of Creation. But seeing ourselves as a small, but important part of the story is what fills our lives with meaning and purpose—the kind of purpose that drives out fear.
The Ghost of Christmas Future allows Scrooge to see beyond himself to the world he will leave behind if he doesn’t alter his course. His perspective is expanded beyond his current circumstances to include the people around him and the world that will continue to go on after him. This is a sobering but absolutely necessarily realization that puts our lives in true context with a far bigger picture.
I believe the most powerful tool we have is the ability to expand our perspective. We can choose to open our awareness to include not only the past, present, and future, but also all the human souls therein whom our actions affect greatly. This is the surest way, and perhaps the only way, to root out needless anxieties and fill our precious days on earth with joy and purpose.
“I don't know what to do!" cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!”