selflessness
Let Us Celebrate The Season With Charity And Kindness
The holidays are a bittersweet time of year for me. While I am blessed to be surrounded by my loved ones during these days, I am also reminded of all the loneliness and suffering that many people around the world experience.
The holidays should be more than just a time of joy and celebration. It should also be a time to examine our privilege and count our blessings.
I came to this realization many years ago as a young woman living in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Coming from a loving, sheltered family, I made the shocking discovery that the holidays were not joyous for everyone.
It happened while I was walking through the Boston Common one evening with a friend. The Common in downtown Boston is the oldest urban park in the United States. It is traditionally always beautifully decorated for the holidays and there is a long-standing tradition of an annual Christmas lighting ceremony that dates back to 1917.
It all began on December 6, 1917, when the Halifax Explosion, the largest non-nuclear explosion in history, destroyed much of the city. Boston officials learned of the disaster by telegraph and quickly organized and dispatched a relief train to help the survivors.
The True Meaning Of Holiday Gifts
While wrapping Christmas gifts for family and friends today, I thought about whether it is better to be on the giving or receiving end of presents during the holiday season?
In my childhood, receiving presents was undoubtedly the best! But my parents also taught me the importance of giving. They gave my sister and me a small allowance during the holidays to buy gifts for others. It was fun to shop for small items to give to our loved ones. With much anticipation, wetried to pick things that people would actually like and appreciate.
I therefore learned early on that while receiving gifts can be exciting and fun, giving them can be even more rewarding.
My parents were certainly on to something, because the value of giving has been scientifically proven to be more than just a sweet sentiment. For example, according to a study by the American Psychological Association, giving to others increases life expectancy by at least five years! Another study found that people who give to others experience lower blood pressure, less depression, and lower stress levels. In addition, giving to others can increase happiness and well-being. A Harvard Business School study found that giving money to someone else increased participants’ happiness more than spending it on themselves.
Calling In Your Beloved This Holiday Season
The holidays are a time of love, belonging and togetherness. It’s traditionally a special time of year when families gather, friends reconnect, and hearts open to the magic of the season.
For singles on a spiritual journey who are seeking a meaningful romantic connection, the holidays can also be a powerful time to call in that special someone. The vibrational frequencies of the holiday season are a perfect time to ignite such a unique romantic connection. Energetically, it is similar to meeting your future partner at a friend’s or relative’s wedding!
How does this work? Metaphysically or energetically speaking, it is necessary to become a vibrational match to your future partner in order to attract them into your life. You must adjust or calibrate your overall energy vibration to match the type of person you desire to be with in a long-term relationship. This involves cultivating positive thoughts, emotions, and actions that resonate with the qualities and characteristics you seek in a partner.
This concept of vibrational energy alignment is related to the Law of Attraction (like attracts like), the Law of Vibration (everything is energy and vibrates at a certain frequency), and the Law of Cause and Effect (we reap what we sow). According to these universal metaphysical principles that govern our lives, the energy vibration we emit attracts people and circumstances with similar energies into our lives.
The Spiritual Importance Of Releasing Resentments
I went out for lunch today and had a bad service experience with the waitress. It was as if she didn’t care much to listen to what I wanted. She seemed distracted and careless.
Two and a half months ago, I had a similar experience at another restaurant when the server packed the wrong items for me to take home. I felt ignored, even disrespected. Today’s experience brought back the same feelings and memories.
I was so upset that I decided I was not going to leave her a tip. But then, in the middle of my meal, while feeling angry and somewhat sorry for myself, I overheard a nearby customer calling her friend by the same name as my late mother.
This caused me to pause and reflect on my toxic thoughts about the careless waitress. You see, my mother was also a waitress many years ago. It was how she put food on the table and put us through school.
Perhaps today’s events were meant to remind me during the holiday season how many of us go through life with unhealed “mother wounds.”
Spirit now had my attention and proceeded to make me aware that my waitress had her own issues with her mother growing up, and that she is now a single mother herself, barely making ends meet. This realization instantly changed my perspective and my petulant attitude.
Kindness Will Transform Your Life
Recently, I have noticed that many of my clients are increasingly seeking spiritual guidance for loneliness and feelings of isolation. No matter what their unique circumstances may be, spirit’s response in these matters is always that the solution begins with ourselves.
We must be the change we wish to see in our world in order to live a more connected and joyful life. Yes, the world we live in these days can be very stressful and alienating, but that does not prevent us from being more kind and generous to others.
Whether it is a smile, opening a door for a stranger, saying thank you or have a nice day, giving a compliment, or making a small donation to a charity, these small gestures every day have a magical impact on our lives. Spirit says we have chosen to experience this life and it is part of our soul journey to go out and be the difference we wish to see in this sometimes difficult, chaotic world.
Being kind is a powerful daily reminder to ourselves and others of our interconnectedness; that we are all on this journey together. Whether it’s a small gesture of kindness or a grand act of generosity, the ripple effect of compassion creates a chain reaction that inspires others to pay it forward.
Random Acts Of Kindness
I was at the gym the other day, working out while feeling really sore and demotivated. It was about to rain and I was just feeling so uncomfortable and miserable.
As I reluctantly lay back in this machine to kick my legs out, I saw a woman limping over to another machine across from me. She was clearly struggling, but you could tell that she was determined, even though she was having a hard time. I thought to myself that I should not be so negative about my own situation because it was just a little muscle stiffness. That brave lady was obviously dealing with so much more.
I experience this kind of scenario all the time in life. Whenever I feel deprived, unlucky, or self-pitying, my guides remind me to count my blessings and check my privilege. Instead, I need to remember those who are truly in need and how much the less fortunate have to go without.
Did you know that an estimated 828 million people in the world go hungry every day? This means about one in ten people on the planet does not have enough food to meet their basic needs. You may be thinking, what can I do about it? Well, I can only speak for myself. I recently decided to donate a pound of canned goods or a bag of groceries to those in need for every pound of weight I lose. It keeps me in check and reminds me to be thankful that I have food on my table every day!
Surround Yourself With Divine Love
Love is a concept I encounter every day in my work, and it is indeed a multifaceted thing. In its purest form, it manifests itself as a mother’s love for her child, a partner’s love for his spouse, or a sibling’s love for a brother or sister.
But love also takes more subtle forms. It can be reflected in a teacher’s love for expanding young minds, a researcher’s desire to advance humanity, or an engineer’s fine attention to detail.
There are also negative, toxic forms of ‘love.’ Too much love, though usually well-intentioned, can be harmful. The hovering parent, the controlling spouse, the overprotective friend can stifle true growth, trust, and creativity.
Sometimes conditional love is traded like a commodity or used as a weapon. It can be withheld when behavior is perceived as lacking or used as a reward for conforming to the status quo.
Fake love is also used as a facade or camouflage. The world is full of negative energy and hidden agendas disguised as projects of love that are supposed to be “for the greater good.”
Sometimes love turns into distractions, such as self-centered schemes that are really based on greed. Some people who profess love in truth worship false praise, accolades, and self-enrichment.
Spirit invites us to abandon the charade of false love. Instead, we should strive to be kind, compassionate, and generous without expecting anything in return. We must give others the benefit of the doubt without judging their worth or intent. Each day we should step forward and ask, “How can I help?” instead of making negative assumptions. Spiritual people lead by example. We must show the world the divine beings we are inside.