Have a Green Christmas
It’s estimated that 340 million North Americans spend billions on Christmas. It not only affects your pocket, leading to debt for many, it also impacts the environment. It mostly obliterates your energy.
At the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, where I was a student from 2001-2003, they urged us to try a shocking exercise at Christmas. The school suggested you handed out, to family and friends, a certificate opting out of Christmas giving. It was a stunning experiment at the time and yet, it felt so right, so timely. Finally, ‘permission’ was granted to release the incessant stress and pressure to ‘give the perfect gift.’ What a life changing experience.
Whatever your beliefs, whether you’re honoring the birth of Jesus, or celebratinging remnants of old pagan rituals, consider that you can DO whatever you like. You can CHOOSE to celebrate the season in a way that empowers and enlightens:
1. Gift what you already have to those who don’t. You know, like those books that are in almost perfect condition on your bookshelf, the extra perfume still in the box, your son’s barely used ice skates. There’s a shelter somewhere, or a family down the street, that could use what’s collecting dust in your home.
2. Share the gift of gratitude. Think of all whom you’d like to honor at this time and write them a note. It could be on a card or on lovely note paper. Use your own language, there’s no neat and tidy format here. The only thing to do is tune into the energy of your being and your heart and connect to their being and heart. Include the qualities that inspire you about them and how they’ve impacted your life. There is no gift more precious than acknowledgement and appreciation. This gift will far outshine anything you can buy.
3. Gift Yourself. Capture your accomplishments for the past year. Where have you surpassed your expectations? What extraordinary challenges have you overcome? What treasures have you brought back from the adventure in life? Write them down, read them to yourself and share them with others. These intangible gifts of the spirit are true gems, guaranteed to expand your essence and forge an extraordinary you.
The time is now to create meaningful celebrations and vibrant rituals. Take a moment to breathe, relax and expand your energy and feel the joy of being in your body and in this place and time. Allow the wonder of creation to infuse your every cell and know that nothing is more precious than the gift of life. It is enough to be here now. This season find your way of saying Thanks to Life!
