A Gift for the Soul

Category: Personal Development for Adults

Another year behind us and another on the horizon. It is the season of giving. What do all these gifts truly mean? What do they mean to you, both the ones you give and the ones you receive? How joyful do you feel when you offer a gift or when you receive one? What delights you most in this "Christmas story"?

Perhaps this Christmas you can give your soul a gift by choosing joy with intention.

Everything. Nothing. Something. This is simply a moment to examine ourselves and to find meaning in what we do.

Amid the breakneck pace of life, we slip into autopilot, moving unconsciously without asking whether we truly want something. What still brings us joy and what no longer does. Perhaps what once delighted us is no longer interesting or fun. Why not change that.

Something that once felt wonderful may no longer feel that way, yet we keep doing it. Why. Do we truly have to. Why do we believe we must.

When we act out of duty and habit, our days harden into routine and automation, and we feel less genuinely alive. If we expose ourselves to the same stimuli over and over, we grow spiritually numb. We deny body and spirit the impulses that invite growth, change and the felt sense of life as new in every moment. Keep doing the same things and you simply go dim. You switch to autopilot and function that way. The spark of real life within begins to fade.

If you feel tired of repeating the same routine, it may be time to set a new course. The change does not even need to be drastic. And who should change anything in your life if not you. Are you waiting for your husband or wife, your neighbor, Peter, Mark or John, the government, or even visitors from outer space.

If you wait for someone else to understand what you want, you might leave this life still waiting.

What would you like for Christmas. A lot of money, you say. That is fine, yet money is not the essence. It is about what you hope to experience through it. What do you want. To work less, to have more time and freedom, to care for your health and your family, to travel, to give others what you wish, to feel desirable, respected and loved. Material wishes are perfectly valid, yet the real point is to discover how you want to feel through what you desire.

How do we want to feel. Calm, at ease, abundant, rested, healthy, sensual, adventurous, free, powerful, and so on.

How do you want to feel this Christmas.

Now consider this. Who is the steward of your thoughts, feelings and actions. Do you believe you cannot change the feeling that is present. You can. It takes willingness, desire and attention. It calls for being present to yourself and turning inward. As with everything, it is a matter of practice. Practice means learning how to respond in the best possible way to the circumstances at hand. Then you begin to shape your life and to consciously change your responses to everything around you. You come to understand that the key is not to change other people or the circumstances, but only your response to what surrounds you.

Everything we do and everything we seek in this life is, in one way or another, connected to how we want to feel.

So perhaps this Christmas you can give your soul a gift by choosing joy regardless of circumstances, and by brightening someone’s day for no particular reason, so that you kindle in them a true sense of joy.

This is not a story about Santa Claus. It is something you can do here and now.