Another year is drawing to a close and we look back, and look ahead. It's a time to celebrate, plan, reflect and also to give. Maybe it was a challenging year for you; financially, health-wise or with family. Maybe it was a year to consider yourself lucky. Maybe it just depends on how you choose to look at the year that was and think about what you felt you gave.
Giving is something we do for a myriad of reasons and in countless meaningfull ways. We may have given our time and effort in volunteering. We may have given more attention to our spending and how we could be saving a bit better for days ahead. We could also have tried not to give others a hard time. Maybe we just happened to realize that we give because of how it makes us feel and sometimes we can give too much.
Hopefully we gave ourselves some time to focus on things we felt were important and worthy of more effort. Giving enough to be sure we made a difference and got the job done. Then there's the chance we gave ourselves a good talking to and took note of the things we keep saying we want to get done or deal with and never do. Like that better habit that seems so elusive or that class we can never make time for because life gets too full of so many other things. Perhaps we hadn't thought at all about giving to ourselves. The thought of just being kind and more considerate to you. Yes, you.
It seems that when we think of giving in that way, in a self-compassionate way, we might feel a bit guilty. Think of one gift that stirs the spirit, like you would choose for a good friend. Think of a way to be kinder to yourself and see how a gift like that feels. We give more of ourselves when we feel we are also filled. So start with you and be kind; give a special gift to yourself this years end and see it keep on giving. In self-kindness we are all one. Have a happy holiday and a sparkling new year!
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