"Guilt...the gift that keeps on giving."
Erma Bombeck
As the New Year begins I'm working on releasing any guilt I have about the last few weeks of the year. Guilt...one of my best things. And I do it all to myself, which is interesting. Who does that to themselves? Probably most of us, at some time or another.
Once the holidays started, which apparently is the day after Halloween, I got so busy I wasn't writing here as much as usual and I missed some great opportunities. This blog is about giving and living in a conscious and thoughtful way. It's not that I wasn't conscious and thoughtful but I just wasn't writing about it. One gets so wound up in all the holiday activities and obligations some things keep getting shoved to the bottom of the list.
This year, along with writing, sending Christmas cards somehow started out at the top of the list and ended up off the list all together by about the 23rd of December. Baking cookies was on my list many years ago but learning that I wasn't talented in that way, cookie baking was dropped from my list. A few years ago fudge making went the way of the cookies. This year the orange cranberry bread bit the dust. I believe I will call that simplifying and so it automatically comes out of the guilt column.
However, in this simplification process I did suffer some guilt over a few things this year, but I can remedy most of what caused my guilt. I can send New Year's cards in lieu of the Christmas cards, which is a great idea because I know who sent to me and I can return their thougthfulness with a card and message that is less hurried than it would have been a month ago.
I wasn't able to spend as much time with certain people over the holidays but that's easy enough to remedy. After all you can spend time with those dear to you any time of the year....tomorrow even or next week. Our time is the best gift we can give to those we care about.
None of my Holiday Transgressions were horrible. They may have been avoidable and they're all essentially fixable so I am giving away any guilt I experienced. I invite you to do the same.
Erma Bombeck
As the New Year begins I'm working on releasing any guilt I have about the last few weeks of the year. Guilt...one of my best things. And I do it all to myself, which is interesting. Who does that to themselves? Probably most of us, at some time or another.
Once the holidays started, which apparently is the day after Halloween, I got so busy I wasn't writing here as much as usual and I missed some great opportunities. This blog is about giving and living in a conscious and thoughtful way. It's not that I wasn't conscious and thoughtful but I just wasn't writing about it. One gets so wound up in all the holiday activities and obligations some things keep getting shoved to the bottom of the list.
This year, along with writing, sending Christmas cards somehow started out at the top of the list and ended up off the list all together by about the 23rd of December. Baking cookies was on my list many years ago but learning that I wasn't talented in that way, cookie baking was dropped from my list. A few years ago fudge making went the way of the cookies. This year the orange cranberry bread bit the dust. I believe I will call that simplifying and so it automatically comes out of the guilt column.
However, in this simplification process I did suffer some guilt over a few things this year, but I can remedy most of what caused my guilt. I can send New Year's cards in lieu of the Christmas cards, which is a great idea because I know who sent to me and I can return their thougthfulness with a card and message that is less hurried than it would have been a month ago.
I wasn't able to spend as much time with certain people over the holidays but that's easy enough to remedy. After all you can spend time with those dear to you any time of the year....tomorrow even or next week. Our time is the best gift we can give to those we care about.
None of my Holiday Transgressions were horrible. They may have been avoidable and they're all essentially fixable so I am giving away any guilt I experienced. I invite you to do the same.
RSS Feed
