‘Tis the Season

If you’re like most people, the holiday season is a busy time.  It’s a time of joy, a time to reflect and remember, and a time to celebration.  It’s a time for customs and traditions, and a time to just live in the moment of the season. Everyone finds holiday meaning in their own way, and that’s good. For the embrace of the season to be meaningful for you, consider how you can more meaningfully embrace it! What follows are a few thoughts for how you may be able to warm your embrace of the season.   

1. Periodically, remind yourself that December has 31 days, and each of those days have 24 hours. Try as you might, you can neither add a day, nor can you stretch a day into 25 hours. Time is a constant to be respected. Setting priorities can improve your ability to make the most of your time. Personal priorities can help you find a balance between missing out and forcing yourself into a hectic race.  

2. Practice some random acts of kindness. If you can, make them anonymous. Don’t measure your benevolence in dollars and cents or any other such measure, and don’t compare what you can do to what others can do. Make your kindness purposeful, and let it be driven by empathy, care, concern, and compassion. That will give it meaning beyond measure.

3. When you give, give cheerfully, and expect nothing in return. When you receive, receive cheerfully. Show your appreciation. An unappreciative receiver can quiet the joy of kindness, disrespect another’s generosity, and stall compassion. When you receive, be thankful and pass it on.

4. Don’t over do it!  Excesses, at least in most things, can lead to problems. The old adage “Everything in Moderation,” applies during the holidays, just as it does the rest of the year. Moderation goes a long way toward preventing, or at least limiting, unpleasant, unhealthy, and just plain stupid consequences.  Thoughtlessness often leads to reckless behavior, which in turn can produce disturbing consequences.

5. Review some of the “I’ve-got-to” and some of the “I-always-do” items from your holiday agenda. If you determine that it’s time to let something go, let it go. If someone asks to pick up something you’ve typically done, consider letting them. In either instance, letting go of something may empower someone else, it may set you free to pick up something new, or it can allow you to simplify the season for yourself. It has often been said that time seems to fly as we age. One of the contributing factors is continuing to do the same things over and over, while adding nothing new or novel. That phenomenon is referred to as the “oddball effect.”

6. Make some time for you and what you enjoy. Seizing opportunities to find personal enjoyment during the season is important. It’s most definitely true that being connected is a critical factor in a balanced and pleasant life style. Interpersonal connections can be meaningful and healthy in so many ways. At the same time, a measure of me-time and attention to your interests is also a critical factor in that ever-evolving life balance. Caring for yourself is important, and doing so better enables you to engage with and care for others.  Remember, it’s tough to pour from an empty cup.  

7. Give the gift of forgiveness. Carrying a grudge, holding on to an old hurt, harboring a prolonged resentment, or giving time to some lingering bitterness can weigh you down. Sometimes getting past something that can’t be resolved, is as easy as just making up  your mind to let it go. That can quickly become a gift that benefits both the giver and the received. Forgiveness is also a gift you can give yourself. If you can’t rectify something you did, or you can no longer do something you left undone, learn a lesson and move on. Guilt is a heavy burden.

8. Don’t get tangled up in the web of perfection. Do the best you can, make good use of the time, resources, and talents you have, then relax and enjoy. Chasing perfection is a pursuit of fools.  Don’t be foolish!

9. Be mindful of changing roles throughout your life. Your role in your own life as well as the roles you play in the lives of others change. It has to; that’s just how life works.  Be sensitive to those transitions, allowing for resulting modifications in how you interact with family and friends. When you do, you’re showing a measure of respect for others and yourself. That respect tends to build relationships and binds them together over time. Such respect provides needed room for growth and development.

10. Relax and enjoy the season!