*NOTE* For the complete version, please download the attached PDF file.
Wrapping gifts is a part of this holiday season we share with friends and loved ones. It is a good time to wrap up our year. Nothing lasts forever, the famous “they” say. And whether your year was good or bad, it does not last.
1. Wrap up the things – people and situations that you claim as bad. I mean literally, write down the word, name the situation and put it in a pile. Take the pile and light a match to it and watch it burn away. Or, send it straight to you shredder. There, that is over and gone. Let go of your tendency to go re-paste the shredded paper together to reunite with a bit of drama, justification, righteousness in your mental conversation about that event. Really, let it go. It serves no one, and it only hurts you and your ability to enjoy your right now and your future by keeping it close in your thoughts.
2. Wrap up your list of “shoulds” and “oughts” that you did not get done in 2013. You missed a deadline or a goal, adjust the date and move forward. You forgot to do something important. Do it later with a sincere apology and move on. You failed to meet an expectation. Who made up the expectation? Were you trying so much to please everyone that you forgot to please yourself?
3. Wrap up the gifts of the year to celebrate. Recall those joyous times of honoring anniversaries, new family members, birthdays, and other milestones along life’s bumpy path. Take time over the holidays to look at old home movies, old photos and listen to stories from your elders and their past Christmases.
4. Wrap up peace and understanding within your family and your team. I hear too many stories about family discord and it is always sad to me. It reminds me of a lesson I learned in a course once – Would you rather be right and lonely or loved? The endless variety of mixture of our 23 chromosome pairs makes everyone unique in body, mind and spirit. Peace is the ability to honor the difference without making the other person wrong because they are not like you or doing what you want. Much of our stress stems from our desire to make the world work like we want and not peacefully letting people live their own lives.
5. Wrap up all the love you can. Then find a way to give your love as many ways as you can this season. Remember, no gift is worth stressing out over. AND, the greatest gift you can give is your full attention and time. The most authentic gifts cost nothing. Take someone’s hand and walk on the beach, at the park, up the mountain-and leave the darn cell phone in the car. Really connect with someone you love.
From my family, which is spread from coast to coast, Happy Holidays – however you celebrate yours, and may your new year be prosperous and fulfilling.
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