As the year winds down there are abundant opportunities for gift giving to family, friends and co-workers.  Countless hours, days and weeks, are invested in making the holiday's one to be remembered.  Many of our childhood memories were created during the Holidays when we gathered together to celebrate the most sacred of events, and the relationships we have shared.  Now we take time out of our busy schedules to celebrate with family and friends around good food and drink as we warmly gather in the presence of those that mean so much to us.  And for all but the most newly initiated we once again combine the solemn with the festive in this annual time of rejoicing.  Tears are shed, as we marvel at those new arrivals; awestruck in amazement as we try our best to even imagine the slimmest of visions of what is in store for them, and what the world will be like for them as they go through their lives.  This time of year often offers the gift of introspection that seems to come after the toiling and arduously targeted marathon of preparation comes to a quiet but sudden halt, for so many on the Christmas eve.  It is the opportunity to stop and marshal a glimpse into our lives, taking stock and reflect in preparation for the greatest present, yet to come.

 

In preparation for receipt of this gift, I have found that giving something away is important.  What you give is relatively immaterial.  It is in the giving that we prepare ourselves to get this gift.  The thing you give away should be of great value to you, but should not cost you much.  It must be precious to you, so that the person you give it to can sense the sacrifice you are making in the giving.  It must be given without conditions, and have within it the intent with which you obtained it.  And finally, it should be given in private, so that it does not become a spectacle to aggrandize the giver.  The best work we do is often done without the knowledge of others, because it allows us to give of ourselves and not for ourselves.

 

To make sure you are fully ready to accept the greatest gift, there are a couple steps for you to consider in making yourself fully ready.  The first step is that of forgiveness.  The end of the year is the perfect time to take stock of those that you harbor resentment for or whom you feel have wronged you.  A heart filled with resentment, is full and can't receive.  Like a cup, you have to empty it out before you can add anything new.  

 

Secondly, discover gratitude.   Make a list of those things that you are grateful for.  Start with the small stuff and build up. Try not to miss anything, because how many times today did you experience things in your life that those who lost their lives the day before never had the opportunity to experience?  Carry the list with you and add to it throughout the day.  You only have one day to do this so don't delay and don't give up.   Just keep recording.   At the end of the day, before you go to bed, read it.  Each day you have the same opportunity to be grateful for what you have.  But how many days go by that we don't stop to think of all we have, all we experience and all we are.  Put the list next to your bed before you go to sleep, so it is the first thing you see upon waking. 

 

The next morning upon waking, take the list and tear it into very small pieces.  Take it to your toilet, slowly drop in the pieces and flush it.  As it flows away realize that all you have, and all you are, like those pieces of paper that recorded your life, can and will some day disappear in an instant. Think of this, because you are now ready to receive the greatest gift of your life.

 

The gift will unfold as you go into the day, with the realization that the day you are in is precious.  What you have been, and what you are, are only a glimpse of what you can be.  Once you realize that each day is a gift, a chance to more fully live your life, you have broken the code, you know the secret, and you can begin to more fully live each day with a new awareness and more fully appreciating the gift of today.  As the saying goes, yesterday's past, tomorrow's the future, but today is really the present.

 

Be well!

John

 

 

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