John Cali
At the risk of being “politically incorrect,” I want to wish all of you a most Merry Christmas. You do not have to be Christian (I am not) to have a merry and happy Christmas season. I absolutely love this time of year.
But, for those of you who may be rolling your eyes into the back of your skulls, I’ll also wish all of you Happy Holidays. 😉
To get a bit more serious here, I received a letter from a friend just a few days ago. She has a hard time during the December holiday season.
Here is an excerpt from her letter:
Could you do a newsletter on how to make the holidays easier for those of us who feel utterly alone? I’ve really been struggling with this last week. I have nice plans, but . . . I have such a yearning to be a part of a permanent family group. Even though my family was dysfunctional in some ways, we cared about each other too. There was a familiarity about those family Christmases of long ago that tears my heart out when I think of them. Especially the Christmases with my grandparents. It’s gotten me feeling most melancholy.
And here’s Spirit.
Spirit
This time of year is, for many of you, a mixed blessing, if you will.
For those of you who celebrate Christmas — or any other special holiday — you sometimes find yourselves torn and tossed, and in turmoil.
The holiday, the celebration — whether it be Christmas or any other special time for you — often reminds you of the joy of life. Celebrations are all about joy, about honoring your lives and all those loved ones with whom you share your lives.
But, most importantly, your celebrations are about you — and your appreciation and love for yourself.
Now, you might ask, “What does that mean, Spirit?”
Well, friends, it means this: If you cannot celebrate the miracle that is you first, then you will often find little joy or reason to celebrate Christmas — or any other holidays.
It all begins with you. Your ability to love, appreciate, and celebrate yourself is the key here.
If you can do that, you will never feel lonely or joyless. We realize the holidays, whether they be Christmas or any other days special to you, often bring out the “worst,” if you will, in you.
Often, the reason for that is you are remembering past holidays, past celebrations.
They may or may not have been as perfect as you remember them. But they have almost always involved other people you love and care about.
And so, given that, you find yourself yearning for the “good old days.”
Friends, those “good old days” are now. Today and tomorrow are the good old days you will remember next year, and ten years or more from now.
Our point here is this:
Your joy, your happiness, your peace depend only on you. And only on how you feel about you.
If you feel good about you, you don’t need anyone else, anything else in your life to feel good — whether at Christmas or any other time.
You are all you need.
We are not saying it is not good to connect with others — to be joyous co-creators in this joyous experience of life on Planet Earth.
You did not come here to be alone — at least most of you did not. You came here to be joyful individual creators — but also to be joyful co-creators.
But you can be neither a good individual creator nor a good co-creator unless you first acknowledge and feel your own power. You can stand alone in the immense power you have as one single individual.
And in that power, once you’ve acknowledged and owned it, you will be forever joyful.
You will never again feel alone or lonely. You will live fully in every present moment with a deep sense of joy.
And that’s what Christmas, or any other holiday, is all about, isn’t it? That’s what life is all about.
Be joyful. Be joy. Celebrate every day of your life as if it was Christmas. Celebrate yourself. Celebrate everything and everyone in your life. It’s all good!
Merry Christmas!
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