The holiday season is upon us!
For some, the holidays bring out the best in us and in others they bring out the worst.
For some, the holidays remind them of joyful times and others remember it as a time of lack and disappointment.
We can all get puffed up from time to time and get carried away with wanting the newest, the biggest and the best. And we want these things for our loved ones as well. There is nothing wrong with wanting to give great gifts but when the giving inflates our ego, therein lies the problem.
Giving must always come from the heart and with no strings attached. Giving from the heart is freely giving. Giving with strings attached means that we have a motive in our giving and therefore it is not really giving, because we are expecting something in return. The ego might only want a pat on the back or some words of affirmation that we have done a great deed, but true giving doesn’t expect anything in return.
I think of gifts I gave as a child. A lot of them I had to make myself because there were 13 of us and I didn’t have the money to buy 12 gifts. I worked so hard on the gifts I gave. I made sure to give each person something that THEY would love. It was a great joy to see a big smile on their faces when they realized I had put so much thought into the making of their gift. A happy tear was the best thank you I could ever imagine.
Now, I no longer have to make my gifts, but a great deal of thought still goes into the giving. I (like you) want to give each person something especially meaningful to them. What I desire most is to give something from the heart. A framed baby blanket, a box of cherished pictures, a family heirloom, a family cookbook… you get the idea. Gifts from the heart can never be destroyed and since no strings are attached, they can never be taken back.
This holiday season as we celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, let us all give what matters most. Let us give love, spread joy, share peace, be patient, always kind, have a giving spirit, be faithful, be gentle, have less anger and more happiness. #smallsteps friends!
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