This time of year, more than any other, it is so easy to get hooked by all of the marketing and media hype of Christmas. In Tibetan there is a word that refers to this getting kind of getting hooked. The word is “shenpa” and it is translated as “attachment.” However, the well known Buddhist teacher and Nun, Pema Chodron, thinks a better translation is “hooked” – things that hook us. The Buddha was very clear about the pitfalls of attachments. In his first teaching – the first turning of the wheel of Dharma - the Buddha describes in the Four Noble Truths how attachments cause suffering. Not only do you find reference to this in the Four Noble Truths, but also in the Dhammapada where he said: Just as a tree, though cut down, sprouts up again if its roots remain uncut and firm, even so, until the craving that lies dormant is rooted out, suffering springs up again and again. So how do we avoid getting hooked? How do we avoid the attachments especially this time of year?  All of us are subject to habitual patterns. This is probably due not only from this lifetime, but probably from many many lifetimes of being stuck in habitual patterns. This is due in part to a world that is constantly changing. One of the doctrines of Buddhism is impermanence. Everything in this world is impermanent. What is stored up, will be exhausted. Whatever is built up will be eventually crumble. Whatever is born will eventually die. So everything in our world is impermanent. As a result we tend to grasp or cling to this or that with the thought that it will bring us some temporary relief. For some it might be overeating, for others alcohol, drugs, or it could be as simple as a shopping addiction.  Everyone of us experiences shenpa in some way. We get hooked by something. It could be as simple as someone walking into a room. What I mean by that is -- haven’t you ever had a very strong emotion when someone simply walked into a room? It could be someone you intensely dislikee, or it could be someone you maybe were attracted to. Either way it is shenpa – you are getting hooked. The big addictions are obvious – but the fact is our whole life is made up of these small addictions. For example that craving for something sweet, maybe it is chocolate, for me it is chocolate chip cookies. Or it could be that cappuccino you pick up every morning at Starbucks on your way to work. It is the little addictions that we have to be more mindful of. Think about how in the morning we must have that cup of coffee or that cup of tea. Think about the countless little things that we are unmindfully attached to? Last week when I was visiting the Buddhist inmates at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leveanworth the inmates mentioned to me that they had begun the practice of taking one ordinary activity and doing it with mindfulness. That day it was being mindful of putting their shoes on at the end of meditation session together. They weren’t going to do anything different. But as they put their shoes on, they were going to do it with mindfulness. Being aware of putting on their shoes – and being aware of others as they put on their shoes. I think this is a wonderful idea. During this holiday season why not take a day of being very mindful of all of things you are very attached to? Think about them – meditate about them. During this hectic holiday season, I encourage you, of course to continue your meditation practice, but I am also encouraging you to bring mindfulness to some part of your everyday activity. If you can’t devote an entire day to being mindful of all things you do, then at least select just one activity that do with mindfulness. It could be coffee drinking, or dressing in the morning. You don’t have to change anything you are doing – but simply bring mindfulness to what it is you are doing. If you do this regularly, you will find it becomes easier and easier to bring this kind of mindfulness to more and more areas of your daily life. As you become more aware of your attachments and it will become easier to disentangle yourself from all of countless things you are so attached or hooked to. Our whole society and culture is geared to getting you hooked - especially this time of year. So this is an excellent time of year to bring mindfulness to your life and to become aware of how shenpa can so easily hook us.