On the fifth day of Christmas
my true self gave to me:
5 Bold Things
Four Square Breathing
Three fountain pens
Two moments of wonder
And a positive affirmation to start my day.
All together now:
On the fifth day of Christmas1 my true self gave to me:
5 Bold Things
Four Square Breathing
Three fountain pens
Two moments of wonder
And a positive affirmation to start my day.
Explanations (and no toxic batteries required)
Not 5 gold rings. There's nothing wrong with nice things, but nice things don't necessarily sustain the soul. So, the Bold Things is providing an alternate translation to some of Jesus Christ's words. I absolutely love the King James Version of the Sermon on the Mount. I love the poetry, language and I genuinely love the messages. For example: "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is a nice message. Addressing those co-dependents reading this or those who struggle with their self worth, it doesn't say "Love your neighbor instead of yourself" It says, "Love your neighbor as yourself" Great message. Love yourself and love others also!
The bold part of today's prompt is that I'm going to provide a slightly different translation to 5 of my favorite scriptures from the Bible. 2
A brief background: Jesus spoke in a beautiful language called Aramaic. The written language was Hebrew. There is a modern "Hebrew" today, that is not Yiddish. Therefore, many label the written language of the Bible as Old Hebrew. The bible was translated from Old Hebrew to Greek to Latin. During King James' reign, around 1604 AD, many of the priests only cited the Latin. Not many people, especially the common people, understood Latin. Therefore, King James ordered a translation of the Bible into English. Hence the King James Version of the bible most of us know today.3
I picked out 5 of my favorite scriptures, and am offering a bold possible translation from the spoken Aramaic of Jesus's time directly to English of our time.
"Keep us from hoarding false wealth, and from the inner shame of help not given in time."
As a possible translation to: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."4
The reason I picked this one is that it is in direct response to the 5 Gold Rings verse of this Classic Christmas Carol. As I mentioned, material things are nice. But rarely do they sustain the soul. During our family meeting, my brother humbly spoke of his large home, "As the house that shame built"5"Blessed are those in emotional turmoil; they shall be united inside by love.”
As a possible translation to: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”6
The reason I picked this is that many victims and survivors of sexual assault experience a great deal of emotional turmoil. I like the fact that this translation states emotional turmoil so boldly and that our souls shall be united with love.
“Grant what we need each day in bread and insight.”
As a possible translation to: “Give us this day our daily bread”7
I picked this scripture because it offers the words insight and bread. Of course, bread is important, but I feel the addition of the word insight is beneficial.
"Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others' guilt."
As a possible translation to "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"8
In my opinion, the cords of the mistakes binding us, relates directly to the shame that binds us. John Bradshaw wrote a wonderful book entitled, "Healing the shame that binds us."9
Please remember: YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ABUSE YOU HAVE ENDURED, ESPECIALLY AS A CHILD.
Children typically take on anything and everything that is not their fault. Their parents' relationship falls apart? The kids blame themselves. Pedophiles and abusers are experts at manipulating that childhood belief. If it goes unaddressed, children carry that to their adulthood. Frequently not even having memories or words for why they felt that guilt/shame that transforms into toxic shame as adults.
I love this translation because it says, "loose the cords of mistakes binding us" Remember, these are not your mistakes. The mistakes and strands of guilt we hold for others mistakes.
That is healing my beloved survivors. This is the heart of it. You are not responsible for the horrors committed against you. Once you heal from those beliefs, you will be free.
"Out of you, the vital force producing and sustain all life, every virtue..."
As a possible translation to "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen"10
I don’t think I need to explain why I picked this one: Out of you is the vital force producing and sustaining life and every virtue.
5 Bold Things for you to carry forth into this holiday season. You can be free--and more--so much more.
I understand not all celebrate Christmas, or even believe in God. However, for the sake of simple communication, I ask for your understanding of my play on a well known Christmas Carol to give you 12 days of humorous prompts to support you through this holiday season.
These translations are provided by Neil Douglas-Klortz, MA. in his book, Prayers of the Cosmos
This explanation is very watered down. I want to stay with the spirit of my helpful, and somewhat humorous, bold statements. However, this is in no way meant to offend those those dedicated followers of The Bible.
Seriously, going directly from the Aramaic to English diminishes the likelihood of a mistake going from Aramaic to Greek to Latin to English. A simple example: with all the translations from language to language to language there are about 40 different meanings to the word "Love." Possibly, the Priests' in King James's time, had a different perspective about the relationship between Jonathon and David. See 1 Samuel 18:1 - 18:4
See Paperdolls & Cowboy Boots, pages 130-136