I’m driving home from what I hope to be the last of my holiday shopping.
There’s less than 10 days until Christmas and if you’ve got young kids you know the magic that fills the air.
Holiday time through a child’s eye is a wonderful thing.
As we get closer to the holiday I’m finding myself less and less motivated to work. I want to switch into ‘holiday mode’ and just enjoy this special time with the kids.
Except there’s that voice; telling me all the things I should be doing instead.
Luckily, I was blessed to be born with a healthy dose of rebellion. (Just ask my mom.) My ability to push back against the voice of ‘should’ is strong.
What do we really gain by doing what we think we should instead of the things we want?
What do we lose? I believe we lose A LOT.
Most of what ails us has its roots in making choices from a place of should rather than the place we want.
There’s always a price to pay for self-betrayal.
Not loving the trades we’re making today creates dissatisfaction below the surface. Repeat this for days, weeks, months and years and the majority of our choices then become an attempt to both compensate and punish ourselves for our deep rooted discontent.
Where you are suffering, sick and stressed, where you are hustling and not in love, you are out of alignment with your self-honor and worth.
We don’t always have the ability to make the exact choices we want, whenever we feel like making them. I know this. But I also know that we are freer than we usually allow for.
There’s always a move we can make right now to honor ourselves more. And that’s all it takes to start turning things around.
A willingness to silence the voice of should and place more value on what we really want. A willingness to begin questioning the limited way we’ve been conditioned to define failure and success.
How could it be failure if you’re enjoying what you're doing? It can’t.
This is what I want for you this holiday season, and beyond.
To begin to take much more seriously the cost of your exchanges. Because in the end, this is the most urgent matter of all. You never get a chance to go back and choose differently. What you decide to value and measure is worthy of careful consideration.
It’s not easy to start making different trades, but I’ll never stop encouraging you to keep at it, because the more you love your trades, the more deeply satisfying your entire life becomes. It holds the power to cure dis-ease and free us in the places we are stuck.
What we truly want for ourselves can’t be given to us by anyone else.
It’s found in the quietest, deepest moments with ourselves, driving alone in the car, when we come face to face with the truth of how we’d love to spend our time and then instead of resisting, we happily and rebelliously grant full permission and love it.
I may end up doing some work. I may not.
What matters more than the exact choice we make is that we love how we’re spending our time. Most people do not. Thank goodness you’re not interested in what most people are doing, you’re interested in how great your life can become.
Loving what you’re doing Lori, will never let you down. It’s where your magic is found.
xx Lori
(pic above is me and Buddy The Elf spreading holiday cheer throughout our town.)