What you can learn about life from Christmas Spirit

The last week here at RCB we have been focusing on Christmas spirit. Christmas spirit is feeling that this time of year is special and enjoying all the special activities and opportunities that only come with the season. In spite of ample opportunities to enjoy these moments, it is easy to ignore them and let life just stay in a comfortable rut, particularly when the kids move out. It is easy to tell yourself that the season doesn’t mean anything. To tell yourself that you don’t need to bother. But if you ignore the season, you cheat yourself out of many small pleasures that can make each day special. I have been making the effort to take those opportunities during the season and I hope even the most hardened and jaded have dome the same. It is well worth the effort.

Along the way I realized is that Christmas spirit and the holiday season is a model for living life, If an individual is unwilling to grab and enjoy the opportunities to add joy to life during Christmas, how willing will they be to seek out enjoyment the rest of the year. And if you aren’t living your life for enjoyment, you lose.

Every day is special.

Even the most ordinary, drab day is full of opportunities to make it special. But they aren’t always obvious. You have to be willing to seek them out and embrace them. You can live life in passive mode or you can actively seek to make it better. Sometimes it takes planning but it can also be as simple as a smile and a wave to your neighbor. Maybe it is volunteering for an organization that you admire. Maybe it is setting aside a lunch date with your grandson- one on one. Maybe it is taking a guitar lesson.

You can either passively accept each day and whatever happens to go with it or take control and fill it with things that are important to you. If you don’t control your life, then you become irrelevant. You don’t offer anything to others and you become a needy, whiny leech to everyone you know.

So, if you are enjoying the Christmas spirit because you decided to let yourself participate fully in the season, don’t stop just because you take down the Christmas tree. Keep that spirit going into the New Year. Make each day and each season joyful and spirited by filling it with activities and people that you love.