Opening Up Our Heart For the Holidays
As most people around the world get ready to celebrate their respective holidays beginning this weekend, and extending into next week, many will have the opportunity to gather together with family and friends to enjoy the festivities. Often it is heard that the holidays are a difficult time for many people. Why is this so? Is it the stress involved in putting everything together, the expectations that we have from others that may not be met, for whatever the reasons, the inability to give because of financial and/or emotional constraints?
This morning, I received an email reminding me of Scrooge in Dicken's The Christmas Carol. For this man, the world was a difficult and cruel place to live, primarily because he became so self-centered around the goal of making money and consequently cut himself off from others in his family, in his employment and in his neighborhood. It ws only when he was able to open up his heart to others, was his own compasion able to be felt.
Yesterday, I learned a valuable lesson about expectations, and what it means to open up one's heart. As many of you know, this has been a difficult year personally for our family, in many ways, mostly because of the illness of my daughter. I decided to send out one of those letters about how everyone is doing, the one that usually contains all the good, news, highlights our accomplishiments and achievements of our children, our loved ones and our spouses. Instead, the letter I sent out was one describing all the hardships we have been experiencing as a family, and how painful this year has been for our family, highlighting how disappointing it was for some people to stay silent and not call to see how we are doing.
This morning, when I woke up, I realized, that my letter was inappropriate. Not because our pain was any less real, but because I had certain expectations about how people should be, what they should say and how they should behave during these times that were not being met. It was inside that empty space of failed expectations where the pain was felt and began to grow. It we truly expect nothing from others, we learn to keep a quiet mind and peaceful heart.
Today, as many get ready for Christmas, and tomorrow, as we begin to think about Hanukah and how the light on the Menorahs can bring light inside of us, let us remember that it is not just gifts that we open, but true giving involves the opening of our hearts to those around us.
Not knowing whether our daughter would be home for Hanukah, and starting a new job, I was unable to go out and buy gifts this year. Instead, when I saw someone who needed something on the streets, I gave them food, bought them coffee, helped with change. This time of year was also used as a time to give to donations to organizations that I truly believe in helping.
So many of you on this blog, as well as family and friends, have truly opened up your hearts to me, and my family, that this type of gift is most defiinitely the one to be cherished of the season.
As we open up our light the candles on the Menorah, open up our gifts, let us remember to keep our hearts open to those around us. As the Dalai Lama says, "Do what you will with another person; but never put them out of your heart.
God Bless you, and I send all good wishes for all of you for the Holiday season.
Thank you for your minds.
This morning, I received an email reminding me of Scrooge in Dicken's The Christmas Carol. For this man, the world was a difficult and cruel place to live, primarily because he became so self-centered around the goal of making money and consequently cut himself off from others in his family, in his employment and in his neighborhood. It ws only when he was able to open up his heart to others, was his own compasion able to be felt.
Yesterday, I learned a valuable lesson about expectations, and what it means to open up one's heart. As many of you know, this has been a difficult year personally for our family, in many ways, mostly because of the illness of my daughter. I decided to send out one of those letters about how everyone is doing, the one that usually contains all the good, news, highlights our accomplishiments and achievements of our children, our loved ones and our spouses. Instead, the letter I sent out was one describing all the hardships we have been experiencing as a family, and how painful this year has been for our family, highlighting how disappointing it was for some people to stay silent and not call to see how we are doing.
This morning, when I woke up, I realized, that my letter was inappropriate. Not because our pain was any less real, but because I had certain expectations about how people should be, what they should say and how they should behave during these times that were not being met. It was inside that empty space of failed expectations where the pain was felt and began to grow. It we truly expect nothing from others, we learn to keep a quiet mind and peaceful heart.
Today, as many get ready for Christmas, and tomorrow, as we begin to think about Hanukah and how the light on the Menorahs can bring light inside of us, let us remember that it is not just gifts that we open, but true giving involves the opening of our hearts to those around us.
Not knowing whether our daughter would be home for Hanukah, and starting a new job, I was unable to go out and buy gifts this year. Instead, when I saw someone who needed something on the streets, I gave them food, bought them coffee, helped with change. This time of year was also used as a time to give to donations to organizations that I truly believe in helping.
So many of you on this blog, as well as family and friends, have truly opened up your hearts to me, and my family, that this type of gift is most defiinitely the one to be cherished of the season.
As we open up our light the candles on the Menorah, open up our gifts, let us remember to keep our hearts open to those around us. As the Dalai Lama says, "Do what you will with another person; but never put them out of your heart.
God Bless you, and I send all good wishes for all of you for the Holiday season.
Thank you for your minds.
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