The Best Present Ever

This year, I will remember that people are more important than things.

(Dr. Wayne W. Dyer)

During this holiday season, when you think about getting presents for your loved ones, do you feel stressed or are you filled with joy and love?  Do you consider it necessary to buy them presents? It is actually a good habit to buy presents for your loved ones, especially when you pay attention to what they like and feel the joy and love for them as you select the gifts. It is a habit that we can cultivate, not just for the holidays. You can literally anticipate how joyful and touched they are when the people we care for open their presents full with surprise. 

While we are developing our habit to select thoughtful presents for our loved ones, we can develop the ability to pay attention to the people around us. It turns out that our attention is what is important, not what we end up buying. Too often we zoom into the things that fancy our attention while we don't spend enough time on what it is actually is our loved ones want. What we think will be good for them may in fact be just our fancy.

How often do we find ourselves simply too busy to spend time with the people around us and really listen. We are spending time together but our minds are worlds apart. We are thinking about our to-do lists and are out of touch with what is going on in their lives. We are together yet we feel alienated and lonely. So what a nice opportunity it is to drop everything and spend a while to tune into their needs and aspirations. The holidays are the season to remind us what really matters to us; the preparation we make for our get-together and the presents we select are expressions of our love for others.

The holidays should be just a reminder of our resolution for the upcoming year. How can we be really with our loved ones all year around? The trick is that when we manage to live in the here and now, we cannot help but to be with our loved ones 100 percent. When we are able to sense our body, observe our thoughts, be with our breath, and be present with our environment, we are totally connected with everyone. Often it is our loved ones who help us snap out of a train of thought or a lack of attention. This presence creates the communication and energy exchange between each other. This presence is love!  When we are able to be with others, listen to them and feel loved.  

Why don’t you try it today?  Try to be here and now no matter who you are talking to today.  Let’s hand out the present of truly being with each other. If you can manage to live in the now today it will not be hard to make it a daily routine!  Let’s light up each other’s heart with care and love in this holiday season!

By Christian and Su Zhen