My Christmas Gift
To my family and friends - old and new:
There is a lovely story of the romance between journalist-playwright Charles MacArthur and Helen Hayes, famous American actress. When they were young and about to be married, he bought her a bag of peanuts, presented them with a flourish, and said, "I wish they were emeralds." Years later, as he was dying, he gave her an emerald bracelet and said, "I wish they were peanuts."
Each year I face the same challenge keeping my peanuts and emeralds in perspective. I loved it when my babies were little and they enjoyed the box more than the toy that box contained. I had been frantically running around trying to find that special gift, within whatever budget we deem appropriate, for that special person for a myriad of reasons. I wonder of the importance of being instead of having or doing and if maybe the best gift of all is to simply BE who you are with everyone in your life that is important to you. Expensive and fancy gifts, even if they satisfy wants, rarely meet genuine needs. Christmas gifts to family can be expensive distractions enabling us to perhaps avoid or postpone the gift of self. I havent seen you all year but here's some chocolate. mmm.........
Its not the money that we spend on the gifts. Sometimes we tend to think that money can buy anything. But it doesn't. Money is a very important tool which we use according to our personal value system.
Nature itself charges us with ambition, which prompts mankind to cultivate, build, establish cities, and to invent and improve all the sciences and arts, which ennoble and embellish human life.
Earning more $ will not give any one of us lasting happiness. It is in our nature that we adapt to improvements in our lives, whether those improvements arise from more $ or other desirable things, so that the additional happiness they bring is temporary. There is much wisdom knowing that the journey is more important than the destination. Human happiness comes from striving for improvements and from the sense of achievement gained by overcoming the challenges we face along the way, not from docile dependence on others. The happiness gained from struggle and achievement may be temporary, but fortunately our insatiable desire for more of life’s good things guarantees that new struggles and achievements are always available for replenishing our happiness. Furthermore, we can take pleasure in knowing that when we struggle to improve our conditions by pursuing $ in an enterprise, we are increasing opportunities for others to improve their conditions as well.
During the year, I played The Prosperity Game. You set up an Accounting Package - QuickBooks or MYOB or Excel spreadsheet or just print fake deposits and cheques for your PROSPERITY BANK ACCOUNT. Every day for one year, the Universe makes a deposit into this account. $1000.00 on the first day, then $2000 on the second day, then $3000 on the third day and so forth until on the 365th day the deposit is $365000.00. Each day you have to spend the entire amount of the deposit. I think in total it is $66Million. You can do daily or just do as much as you can each day until you spend one years worth. I got to day 87 and became qiote disheartened as I realised that the $ would not buy me what I truly wanted. Love and Relationships. It’s the people in your life that money cannot buy. It’s the YOU in your own life that money cannot buy.
It is in the taking a little time out from our daily stuff to appreciate how much we have achieved already and how blessed we are that we are most wealthy. It is in the seeing that we already have everything that we want and need. It is in the gratitude for our lives just as they are that we truly are rich.
So in the spirit of the Solstice or Christmas or whatever you choose to celebrate, I cannot give you anything for you already have everything in abundance. You already have my love and friendship and gratitude. My gift to you is the reminder of what you already have that money most definitely cannot buy.
Childish Wonder
Community
Contentment
Dreams
Family
Friends
Health
Hugs
Intelligence
LOVE
Nature
Perfection
Respect
The bit of you that is YOU that no one else can see – your feelings, your thoughts, your ideas, your YOU.
Time
Talent
Sunrise
Sunset
Patterns in the Clouds
Tomorrow
Today
Yesterday
Your breath
Your Life
Enjoy the box these gifts come in...................
