We are now into the season of Advent. A season of anticipation, of waiting. For me personally, it is a season of preparation for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, the gift that really does keep on giving. But whatever your belief system, the concepts of love, joy, hope and peace that are wrapped up in Advent are ones that all of us can seek to ascribe to and live out more.
I wrote here recently about the importance of kindness in what we do and how we behave. The concepts of peace, love, joy and hope have literally been around for millennia. There really is very little new under the sun.
And I do not pretend to have original or earth-shattering new thoughts on what it means to show peace, joy, kindness, love, hope in how we treat our fellow planet-dwellers.
Last week I was musing on taking a different perspective towards Advent. To choose gratitude and generosity, to seek to thrive in the anticipation, and cherish that and those which really matters.
And so, for these next three weeks, I seek to bring a little thought from someone else that I share here, simply to encourage you to pause for a few moments in your day.
To stop, breathe, and reflect.
To read and think, how can I apply this in some small way today? In my attitudes to people I come across? In my speech? In my behaviour?
A friend shared this post recently, from the people at Zero Waste Weekly. You can find out more about them here. [some useful ideas here – as with everything, read with careful and wise objective consideration]
I love how this shifts our perspective on Christmas.
Takes the focus off need and want into generosity and simplicity. Many people already ascribe to these kinds of approaches. I get that.
But I also know that in the midst of the busyness, we can get caught back up into the maelstrom of shopping/sorting/planning/people pleasing/perfection.
So today, stop with me for a minute. I know that there is lots going on. I understand that your to-do list is the length of the river Clyde. But none of that is going to get any better with you becoming frazzled and frayed at the edges.
Instead, how can you BE present to those that you encounter today?
Look them in the eye and really listen to them. Smile and thank shop staff. Hear what is going on under the surface and speak words of kindness, love, appreciation. Make it about them and not you.
Let this be a shift in your perspective on Christmas this week that brings you, and those around you, a little joy.