Make Christmas Joyful— Live Your Purpose

The Christmas holidays are upon! Last year I didn’t stop to consider the significance of the times, until it was past. This year, I started my reflection early and know what I’m going to do to make Christmas joyful.

During our familia Thanksgiving gathering we had our traditional talking circle, in which we took turns sharing our feelings of gratitude and thoughts or concerns for the coming year. Our conversation then turned to the upcoming Christmas season. We all agreed upon the vision of a low stress, quality time— feel no gift-giving obligations, share meaningful conversations, and homemade presents are preferred.

A current best selling book is “The Purpose of Christmas.” For me the read was too religious and steeped in the old idea of sin and salvation. However, it got me thinking about the purpose of Christmas that I want to live. To honor the birth of the child who became Jesus, I want to celebrate life and love. Here I share a piece of my evolving “how”—savor the time and meaningful conversations.

I’m such a dedicated activist that I often don’t take time to savor the goodness around me. So, my first resolution is to break away from the anxiety of this period to simply savor life around me—relationships, food, breath, thoughts, stars, plants, and moments I share with people. In doing so I’m beginning to discover even more gratitude for the blessings in my life.

I want to engage in fulfilling conversations. I usually do this, but for this Christmas season, why not invite more talk about love, healing and positive change. If these times are to celebrate one of love’s greatest teachers, let’s talk about how we are living love or how we can foster greater love and respect within our family, community or organization? These conversations can be initiated among family members, at holiday gatherings at our home, within organizations I belong to, or with the person next to me in the grocery store check-out line. I know I have experiences that can inspire others and by listening I hope to discover new ways to practice love.

Again, being the activist, I want to encourage conversations about how we can enrich and evolve the movement begun by Mr. Obama. Here is a man who won the nation’s presidency because of his commitment to make government responsible and advance a society that honors and respects all people. We know he can’t do it all, so let’s talk about our part. What are we going to do as individuals, families and groups to create supportive neighborhoods, take care of our youth and elders? How do we advocate for the changes that will make government and big business responsible to all people and our Earth?

I’m looking forward to our family gatherings because these conversations about love and advancing positive change during the Obama presidency will happen. Over the years we have been teaching ourselves how to engage in respectful dialog, so I can envision the conversations occurring over dinner, during our annual jigsaw puzzle sessions or in our sharing circles. Additionally, I already have one organization committed to making the theme of our holiday party “Christmas in the Evolving Era of Obama” in which we will invite guests to engage in series of one-to-one and small group conversations to talk about what we are grateful for and what might we do as an organization to “support and move the changes” we desire for our communities.

I’m looking forward to savoring this holiday and making it a time that honors the teaching of love.