This 1 Gift is Guaranteed to Change Your Life Forever

Christmas is in the air. The holiday season is here with us. You know this because the window displays in stores changed colour – replaced by bright reds, greens, and gold. Bright Christmas lights are strung up everywhere. Your neighbors have been decorating their front yards and houses. You have probably been out hunting for the perfect Christmas tree to decorate. Everywhere you look, everywhere you go, you are met with the sounds of “deck the halls…. oh, holy night…...or jingle bells” streaming through the air. Hopefully, you have not put off your gift shopping for the last minute.

So, it is Christmas……...

But, for some reason you are struggling to find your Christmas spirit. You are feeling worn and tired instead of ecstatic and enthralled. You long for the excitement of your childhood. Or a time in the past when being with your family and friends left you feeling loved and cared for.

I know that feeling. You are not alone.

I admit that I have struggled to get into the Christmas spirit. In fact, there was a time I caught myself looking back and wishing I could recapture a moment years before when I hosted my family (my grandmother, her twins including my mom, and their combined nine children and fourteen grandchildren). From Christmas Eve until Christmas night, everyone was at my house eating, laughing, and playing pool and games I made-up. Things were not perfect and there was even some arguing, but we were together.

For the past few years, I have recaptured some of my Christmas spirit.

|You would not accuse me of being the Grinch who stole Christmas or grumpy old Ebenezer Scrooge.

Now, instead of being excited about Christmas, I have been thankful – not in the least depressed. Gift giving is one of our Christmas traditions. I hope you planned well and got your gifts in advance this year. For those last-minute shoppers, I want to share with you one gift which will cost you almost nothing, and impact you the giver and the receiver of the gift.

That is the gift of yourself.

“Choose to be a gift!”

Before you go thinking that I am asking you to stuff yourself in a box with a bow on top. Hear me out.

The Christmas and New Year holidays are perfect times to show our thankfulness to family, friends, and our loved ones. We can use the holiday time to show our appreciation – for life, health, and wealth. The best way to repay kindness while demonstrating thankfulness, is paying it forward. That is the true meaning of giving yourself as a gift.

Here are a few ideas on how to do it:  

The gift of your time

The busyness of our lives today means that no one has much time for anyone anymore. We spend our days moving from one meeting to another, juggling work life, home life and personal life all at one go. We are forever trying to squeeze one more activity into an already overbooked 24-hour day.

Time is finite making it precious and one of the best gifts’ in the world.

Who can you gift with your time during this holiday season?

·        Could it be a neighbor whose family will not make it to Christmas this year and has no one to visit them?

·        Could you give your time to a local assisted-living facility for the elderly? Sometimes, all they want is for someone to sit and listen to them reminisce about their younger days.

·        Could you gift your time to a local shelter and help them serve food to the hungry and homeless?

·        Could you make time to tutor a young person struggling with reading and school?

·        Could you visit a sick child in hospital and offer to read to them or play with them?

The gift of your talents

Are you a talented cook?

Can you bake mouth-melting cakes and cookies?

Do you have unmatched calligraphy skills and can help someone address and mail their Christmas cards?

Can you write? Sing? Dance?

Are you a master planner slash organizer?

Do you have a unique way of connecting with people?

Are you an artist who brings beauty into the world?

Every human being was created with a unique talent – something that is unique to them and unique about them. No two artists will express themselves in the same way. Two people could sing the same song and yet sound completely different. Even identical twins for all their similarities have been known to be differently gifted. That right there is the gift of talent in action.

Someone needs your talents this holiday season. You know what you are great at. If you do not, take a moment to think back to what you enjoy doing, can do effortlessly and what people will often compliment you most for. Gift someone with your talents this holiday season.

The gift of kindness

The kindness of strangers is deeply touching – believe me, I know. Kindness goes a long way in restoring hope in the hearts of the jaded. For someone who is down on their luck and low in spirit for whatever reason, unexpected kindness is highly appreciated. Some ways you can get started are:

·        Babysitting for a single mother so she can breathe for a moment, clear her head, and get her holiday shopping and gift wrapping done.

·        Helping an elderly neighbor hang their Christmas lights or trim their tree.

·        Paying for the coffee of the person waiting in line behind you at Starbucks.

·        Sending a hand-written thank you note to a friend or colleague.

·        Letting someone go ahead of you in traffic or on the queue at the grocery store.

·        Tipping your waiter generously for offering great service.

·        Offer a compliment or leave a positive review for a local business which gave you a good experience

·        Adopt-a-dog for a day, volunteer at your local animal shelter or offer to walk a neighbor’s dog

·        Offer to do your neighbor shopping as you head out to do your own

·        Smile – it uses up fewer facial muscles than a frown. Bonus points for making someone’s day

As you can probably tell, the list is endless.

As Aesop once said, “no act of kindness, no matter how small, is wasted.”

It is easy to get caught up in your own problems, in your own troubles or even in your own life. It is easy to sink into the regret cycle of I shoulda-I coulda or I -woulda. Sadly though, while it feels good to wallow, none of it is helpful.

If you were to take a minute off your own troubles or own life, you would quickly realize that you are living a better life than many others. You have much to thankful for. The minute you shift your focus from yourself to another person, a change begins to take place in your life. Your mindset changes. Your view of the world begins to shift. Slowly, your attitude also shifts from glass-half-empty to the glass-is-half-full. You begin to believe that anything is possible – if you will only try.

This holiday season, however, and with whomever you spend it, and whether you give gifts or get gifts, find ways to be a gift to others too. You too can experience the transformational gift of self.

Have you given some thought to how you may gift someone else today? Head over to the comments below and share.

I would also love to hear some other ways you have shared the gift of kindness.

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