With the knowledge (er…suspicion) that the Christmas holiday weekend perhaps went a little smoother for some, than for others, I thought today, the following reflection may be apt.
It is a little personal (though not too much ) and I hope, if you need it to be, may also be a little therapeutic…..
Some Preamble
I actually tried ignoring (as much as possible) the pre-Christmas hype (shopping/consumer madness, etc…) but try as I may, it still affected me. So that being considered, there was a few things I needed to get straight; a few ‘truths’ I needed to remind myself and lessons I needed to (re) learn.
I could sum them up in a few phrases – slow down, don’t sweat the small stuff and live every moment, as if it could be your last.
Oh and here’s one more:- acceptance and love don’t always come gift wrapped.
So here’s how I came to these conclusions……
Want Versus Need
Remember this line from the Rolling Stones hit song, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need……” It’s true and he’s a few personal examples of just that…
The ‘need’ follows the ‘want’ and is written in bold.
1.” For the holidays, I thought I might try something different,” I told my
hairdresser. ‘ I think I’d like my hair to be lighter’ I continued.
After some consternation over this request, she shared her plan to make me ‘a shade lighter’. It didn’t work. One and half hours later, I left a deep brunette.
Not what I wanted.
Upon returning home, my kids and family complimented me, gave me some love and actually told me they liked my hair and that I looked nice. They offered their kind words, were just glad to see me and I felt good.
2. ‘Don’t interrupt me on the phone, okay? I really need to talk to this person. It’s important,’ I told the kids. Within seconds, I had to excuse myself to answer
my kids questions and attend to their activities. Four times, in fact, I excused myself from the phone.
The person I was speaking to, finally said ‘I think I’d better let you go’ and hung up.
Not what I wanted.
After the call, I looked at the kids. They ran to me and hugged me, as if I had been gone for days (instead of a few minutes) and I decided to give them my full attention, suddenly feeling a rush of appreciation for them, for their enthusiasm and their ability to feel excited over the little things in life.
3. Over Christmas, I did receive a few things I simply didn’t want.
These things however were given to me by people whom I really love and it was a gift simply to know that they felt the same. Finding out that they also treasure our friendship as much as I do was something I needed know. It made me happy regardless of the unwanted item.
Therapy for Life
Perhaps, if you’re tempted to moan or groan about anything unwanted in your life, a little tweaking of your mental processes might help and perhaps you can also find, that you actually did get what you need.
A Final Thought
In my humble opinion, our needs are often already being met, but that fact becomes a little clouded by our own preference for getting what we want.
Futhermore, experiencing the joy that fulfillment of our needs brings does require a little less superficiality.
This is just what I think though and maybe…. I’ve got it all wrong? Maybe there’s something else I need to learn…..
What do you think?
I’d love to hear if you yourself have a personal philosophy to live by when things don’t go your way? Does it help to make you appreciate the small things?
Or why not just share your Christmas experiences this year? I myself have enjoyed a very happy and upbeat celebration; one of the best I’ve had in years. I loved it!!
Please feel free to share anything that didn’t go your way though. I’m here and I’m listening…..:) 🙂
Or maybe you have some other nuggets of wisdom to share? Just press comment and fire away….
PS Don’t forget to pop back again in a few days. I am working on a sequel to todays post. It’ll be a similar ”Art of Happiness” study, which you may find interesting……… 🙂
Founder of Changesational
Lifestyle Design With Monica 
