Today

The holidays are again upon us. Thanksgiving always heralds in the seasonal jollities with gusto and now everyone will be counting the days until Christmas, Hanukah, and New Years like nobody’s business. Millions of dollars will be spent, thousands of miles will be traveled, and more food will be cooked than at any other time during the whole year. It’s a tradition, whether we like or not, and I don’t know anybody who escapes the tentacles of The Holidays.

I for one enjoy the holidays. As I get older the pleasure of getting together with my family and spending time just being with each other is priceless. It’s something I look forward to all year long. I’m not sure why this time feels so different because we are together much more than just these few days every year. I think it has to do with that special aura that surrounds the holidays. There is always a lot of love in the air, almost everywhere you go, and almost everyone you know shares this feeling with you. As bad it might seem, the holidays seem to make everything alright for people just to remember how close they actually are to each other.

The holidays are also a time for healing whatever wounds or hurts one may have endured throughout the year. They can be deadly depressing for those who have lost loved ones, but also they offer a new start for moving beyond the pain and into something better. I remember the first Christmas after my grandmother died. I had dreaded its coming for weeks because Christmas was always my Granny’s favorite time. Everyone would get together at her house and she would cook for days beforehand, ensuring that there was a feast prepared for everyone to gorge themselves upon. Granny was so much a part of Christmas in my family that I was convinced that first one without her would be difficult to get through. It wasn’t though. My family all came together and we had a wonderful meal, opened presents, and just spent the day enjoying one another. I was so happily surprised that I didn’t feel sad that I was also grateful to realize that Christmas was just taking a new turn now that Granny was gone. The joy was still there.

I suppose this is why I enjoy the holidays so much. I find the joy in the simple things in my life and in the people who fill it. My family is the best and I have some wonderful friends. On the whole I don’t have that much to complain about. I choose to be happy. It would be a better world if everyone would do the same. I know so many people who are terminally unhappy because they let themselves be that way. They focus on the negative aspects in their lives and don’t do anything to try and eradicate them. My advice to people is always to take a good inventory of their lives and get rid of the things that are wrong. Then find something right to take its place. You have to have courage to do this but in my experience having a life that I enjoy is worth the sacrifice of something that is hampering my efforts. People, places, things; it’s all a part of who we are and the world we create for ourselves isn’t worth the trouble of putting up with if it’s not feeding our spirits.

With Thanksgiving now passed and the holiday season officially underway, I think this time of year is for celebrating and making life into what we want it to be. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have something to be thankful for and something which makes their life bright. Which is why I get so stymied by those who seem to be miserable all the time. Perhaps it’s just the looking in from outside or perhaps it’s like that old saying about some people only being happy if they are miserable. Either way, it seems that people have choices to make in their lives and if they make the wrong ones, well that’s their bed to lie in. Only it doesn’t have to be. We can make changes that will make a difference.

In spite of everything that is going on in the world right now, there is still so much for which we can and should focus on to bring our place on earth peace and happiness. Right now is what we should be living in. Not yesterday and certainly not tomorrow. Those are times that either don’t exist anymore or which don’t exist yet. Why waste our energy on what was or what might be? Put your efforts into what your life is right now. Make it what you’d like it to be. Dispose of the things that are preventing you from having what you want. Surround yourself with that which makes you happy.

Do it now. Right now. If you don’t, you have no one to blame but yourself. Today can be the day you begin living the life you desire.

And that is my sole focus for now.