LIFE AS A CONTINUOUS HOLIDAY

The end of the year is approaching and the holiday season is here. Whether it is called the Christmas Season, the Holiday Season, or just the Holidays, it is an annually recurring period recognized by most countries that generally runs from November to early January. It is the time of the year that you either look forward to and anticipate or totally dread. For most, it is a season of celebration, family, parties, gratitude, reflection, melancholy, joy, presents, food, drinks, music, hugs and smiles. For some, it is a time of stress, full of obligations and responsibilities. And for a few, it is a time of reflection and introspection.

For Americans and Canadians, the season starts with Thanksgiving Day and ends with New Year’s Day. For other countries, it starts with Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa (Africa) and ends with New Year’s Day or the Three Kings’ Day (January 6). For those that look forward to these holidays, it is a special period of the year regardless of age, where most of us feel sentimental, reflective, vulnerable, joyful, caring and loving.

What a lot of people do not have clear is that the holidays aren’t about shopping, presents or Santa Claus; aren’t meant only for children (as some believe), but rather for all of us; aren’t about seeing the family and having to sit through the stress of another family dinner; aren’t just for Christians or Jews or Africans or people who believe in something; aren’t about gorging ourselves on sweets and food; aren’t about watching football or parades or parties or singing carols in a cold winter’s night; and aren’t about decorating Christmas trees, setting up a nativity set or stringing up thousands of lights on the outside/inside the house.

To the contrary, it is a season to feel, share, express, and enjoy; and a season where businesses, cities, and jobs slow down; people travel; families get together; presents are given or exchanged; resentments and aggravations are put aside or forgotten and joy and happiness fill our senses and our beings completely. Music fills the air, lights brighten the nights, and the season’s goodies fill our tummies. It is a season to share with family and friends, to reflect upon the year past and look upon the opportunities the new year will bring, to be thankful for all the blessings we have been blessed with, and to be warm, share and love like there is no tomorrow. Ahhh, what a feeling!!

But what makes this season so special to those who enjoy it and look forward to it? Is it the time of the year, the holiday, the meaning, the company, the ambiance, the sharing and caring, the family and friends, the partying, the food, the snow, …, or all the above? Definitely, it is all the above, but they all by themselves are just ingredients, and ingredients alone are not enough to create anything special. You need a recipe!

Like when baking, flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, butter, etc. are just ingredients; and ingredients by themselves do not taste well and do not make anything special. They need a recipe! With the right recipe, you can make the most wonderful breads, cookies, cakes, etc. In our case, the recipe is what you make of those ingredients, your “experience” of them. Each of us is grabbing those ingredients and is passing them by a series of filters (past experiences, insecurities, fears, values, beliefs, prejudices, judgements, preferences, etc.), which will decide what our expectations and experiences are of what we are living, feeling, thinking, etc.

If we are the recipe, if we are the ones having or living the experience, if we potentially have the last word about what our experience of these holidays is, then shouldn’t that decision and experience be the most rewarding experience you will ever have? I truly believe that given the choice, not too many people would choose to dread or be miserable when most people are choosing to have fun and enjoy.

So, if we are the ones making this period of the year so special and not the ingredients, why is that we only do it for this period of the year, or for a birthday, or a wedding, or other special events? Why don’t we apply the same recipe to all our experiences all year around, all life around? The recipe is the same. Just the ingredients are different. In fact, it takes less energy to smile and to be caring and loving than the energy that takes to yell and to be upset and mean. And the experience is completely different. The first one is rewarding and promotes positivism, encouragement, and love whereas the latter is detrimental and promotes negativism, resentment, and hatred.

In essence, from this point and on, I challenge you to choose what everyone else is rejecting, or if not rejecting, ignoring. I challenge you to choose to come out with the best recipes. Your own magic concoctions. Concoctions that will transform your life to be a continuous holiday all year around; that will embrace everyone and everything; and that will spread smiles, caring and love. In essence, I challenge you to see life differently from the way you have been so far and to jump blindfolded into the emptiness of your own immensurable potential! Only at that moment, will you be the best chef with the best recipes!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa, or Happy whatever you celebrate … to all, and Happy New Year! May these holidays spark the deepest feelings of gratitude, love and forgiveness; may the New Year brighten your path; and may your light shine above all!

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Author: Maurice Correa
Website: pathtoone.com
Blog: p2oblog.blogspot.com