Merry Christmas to all! This is a thought I have had this season and thought it was important for us to consider whether we are deliriously happy or in a slump this season.
As the holidays fast approach and now arrive I have been thinking about family, friends, the past, the future, joys, and hurts. I have been thinking about feelings and how we wish others would think and consider ours when making decisions, but how we rarely want to consider others ourselves.
Have you spent much time thinking about how your actions effect others? I have been doing a lot of that the last couple of years it seems and trying to figure out actions that do not cause hurt feelings or disappointments and do you know what I have realized? It is impossible to do so. If we truly make everyone else happy in a situation then we are probably fairly miserable ourselves and if we only focus on ourselves we are probably doing so to the detriment of someone else. Don’t believe me? I challenge you to truly think about your last few decisions and how they effected others around you good or bad – I’ll wait…..
Did you just have an Ah Ha moment? If you did not then I challenge to let this concept percolate in your mind this week and see if you eventually have the same thought that I did.
I have been thinking about holidays and how for many it is the most depressing time of year for them. Most of us cannot see how that can be because it should be the happiest time of the year – I always thought so, stressful maybe, but awesome! Then consider if you lost someone during the holidays or are removed from your family when everyone around you is surrounded by family whether that removal is because of estrangement or schedules, or just plain distance. If you are more visual then imagine missing someone dear to you such as a spouse, sister, mother and wanting to spend time with them. A bummer right, but then imagine holding this wish, but unable to see them for some reason and then you walk by a couple holding hands, a mother putting warm mittens on her daughter, siblings high-fiveing, a happy family around a dinner table, friends sledding down a hill, and much more all reminding you constantly that you are alone at the moment and separated by those people in your life. Now do you see how dark it could get for those people? I know it made me sad there until I tracked down a cookie to brighten me back up…
As you plan your visits or feel the missing aches I hope you treasure the blessings you have, the opportunities when they come, and all the small things in between!