Smile in the Mirror

We can increase the chances of having a better day, regardless of what we are facing, by greeting ourselves first thing in the morning. with a smile in the mirror.  And, with so many reflective surfaces, we can bolster the positive feeling each time we catch a glimpse of ourselves.  A smile can be, not only the gift we give others, but a perpetual gift we give ourselves.  

Beautiful Timing

Though I was happy for Gar as he began his nice adventure yesterday, my heart always hurts when I must be apart from a loved one.  Fortuitous timing brought the arrival, within an hour of his departure, of a beautiful monthly floral delivery from Julia.

When we do nice things for others we don't always know how significant the impact may be.

Rainbow Waiting

Yesterday morning, I seized a short window between rain showers and was able to complete most of my planned run.  A beautiful rainbow greeted me soon after my trek began.  Though I had every excuse to skip a day of exercise, by taking advantage of the few moments that were available, the rainbow reminded me that unexpected gifts are available when we seize opportunities great and small.

Embracing our Unique Gifts

This morning provided another fabulous opportunity, not only to start the day, but to also provide some great thoughts to influence future days.  The remarkable Henry Winkler, keynoted an event benefiting Briarwood School, a terrific place to help bright young minds with learning differences achieve their potential.

He was gracious and engaging with all attendees, before and after his presentation, and immensely entertaining and memorable with his remarks.  Some of his share-worthy tidbits include:

• Don't put a period at the end of a negative thought (What a great and powerful way to banish negative, draining thoughts and replace them with positive affirmations and aspirations!)
• If you will it, it is not a dream
• Only one person needs to say "Yes"
• Each of us is a unique, irreplaceable bunch of qualities and if we don't give our gift to the world, something will be left undone
• Let your imagination have personality
• We don't always know the impact we might have (An autistic child who had not previously spoken said, "Fonz" and a year later had a vocabulary of 100 words)

Embracing and sharing our unique gifts beautifully connects everything. 

No is a Gift

An interesting discussion last night prompted me to provide another way of thinking about saying "no".  Life has taught me that "no" is distasteful to many.  I've coined and oft used the phrase, "I know a thousand nice ways to say no".

Though I had not thought about it as concretely as I shared last night, I do believe that the ability to deliver a deliberative "no" is a gift to the sender and the receiver.

Why?
A decision is helpful to set expectations and boundaries for those who are asking for time, talent or treasures.
A decision allows us to move on to other priorities, issues and requests with closure.

Gifts of Christmas

Two dear friends and I walked and talked early this morning.  One friend recently lost her husband to cancer and she is now recovering from an accident that has impaired her mobility.  She confided that she wasn't in the Christmas spirit.  As much for myself, as for her, I shared that she had the true gift of Christmas in her faith, love and positive outlook.  Most importantly, she has the true gifts of Christmas, despite the reality that she is not enthusiastic about the external trappings of the Christmas season. And sharing those would be gift enough for those who matter!

Seizing Moments

Kristin Kaufman's book Is This Seat Taken? beautifully illustrates the life gifts we are given when we seize every opportunity to fully engage and learn from those who cross our daily paths.  Her stories of encounters with cab drivers, young children, manicurists, waiters, grocery baggers and executives are full of lessons and enriched with her thought-provoking questions at the end of each unique chapter.

Kristin shares a valuable perspective on success, "Success is aligning who we really are inside our souls with what we do and how we contribute in the world."

The book is peppered with with examples of everyday people who are making the world better for those in their circle by making the most of what they've been given. 

Kristin's insights reinforce the powers of optimism, empathy, observation, gratitude, resiliency, courage, trust and the joys of embracing love and life's simple pleasures.

Gift of Change

This morning, I altered my normal walk route to be able to exercise and mail some letters.  Though the distance was the same, I hesitated for a moment.  I could walk my comfortable, normal route and mail the letters on the way to my first meeting.  After considering the possibilities, I opted to multi-task. The gifts of change were threefold:

• gorgeous eastern sunrise
• to-do list item completed before 8:00 a.m.
• acknowledgement that change doesn't have to be big to be high impact

Acting When It's Too Important

Sometimes the importance of the occasion paralyzes us.  How do we adequately acknowledge the occasions of those we cherish dearly?  Gift registries assist us in determining what the celebrants desire.  The price tag assigned to these items makes it easy to know how much each requested item costs.  However, it also makes it almost too transparent.  Alternately, Aunt Maude's silver tray might become a more appropriate gift (for the giver) because it has no assigned retail value, but unallocated worth + sentimental value.  But, this might not be a gift that the happy couple values.

Ultimately, we are all happiest when we apply the platinum rule and gift to others items they would like (with or without the assistance of a gift registry) versus gifting items that we would like.

Merry Christmas!

The gifts of Christmas are abundant!  They include love, family, time, kindness, anticipation, joy, laughter, tradition, food and surprise.  May we remember that these gifts should infuse the coming year.

4 Steps of Gift Giving

To encourage myself that I'm making progress in getting ready for Christmas, I've broken gift giving into a four step process:

• Inspiration
• Acquisition
• Preparation
• Celebration

Gift-giving is joyous when you have inspiration for an appropriate gift.  Sometimes even when we determine what we'd like to give, acquisition is impeded by availability.  When substitution is required, the process starts over.  Creativity or simplicity can mark the preparation phase as we wrap our acquisition.  And my favorite step is celebration.  Though it's not always possible, I love spending time with the recipient as she or he unwraps the gift. 

My Christmas list is in various phases of completion.  And since I've already had the joy of celebrating with a very special group of friends, I have those beautiful memories to add to special gifts I've received.

Gift of Time

Many of us are racing against the clock to finish our work year and achieve all the things on our personal agenda.  There are projects, meetings and reports at work.  At home we try to combine Martha Stewart's decorating and entertaining skills with Santa's intuitive ability to create the perfect gifts beautifully delivered. We trust that the U.S. Postal Service will achieve their normal two-day delivery of our Christmas cards once we stamp the final greeting.

In the hustle to accomplish everything, we can lose focus of the joy of spending time with those we cherish.  Dinners, lunches, cocktails, galas, concerts and impromptu visits with neighbors provide the unwrapped gifts of time to enjoy our relationships.  The gift of time is priceless. 

When 2 Day Delivery Means 5 Days

This week I ordered a Christmas present that I was excited to give several friends.  My order was placed on Wednesday and I opted for 2 day delivery. It was going to be perfect to receive the order on Friday for presentation on Saturday. I got a call mid-morning on Thursday to confirm my order and was informed that because I'd placed the order after noon on Wednesday, my 2 day order would arrive on Monday.  This was 3 days later than expected and 2 days too late.  Had I been willing to wait 5 days for my delivery, I could have saved premium shipping charges. I had to cancel the order and start the gift search again.

Two days to the company meant, "if ordered on Monday, Tuesday or before noon on Wednesday". To me, two days meant "receipt 2 days after ordered". Clear communication of terminology and expectations is always required for deadlines.

Great Adventure

Gar told me to be casually dressed for a surprise birthday adventure yesterday afternoon.  We had a great time at Trans-Siberian Orchestra's winter concert tour!  It was 2 1/2 hours of non-stop entertainment.  I loved everything about it - his novel idea, the terrific shared experience and another wonderful memory.

Christmas Tree

Our beautiful Christmas tree completed our holiday decorations.  Each ornament has a story.  It's filled with priceless ornaments that Julia and Gar have made through the years.   There are scores of splendid and sentimental ornaments we've received as gifts.  And there are homely ornaments that make us laugh.  It's a fabulous collection that is uniquely ours.  Though a designer wouldn't readily detect a theme for our tree, close examination would reveal that the theme is love.

My Favorite Special T-Shirt

My friend Anna is an adult Special Olympics competitor in many different events. She and her mother are weekly volunteers at the Special Olympics office. Anna created the winning design for a t-shirt that was produced for summer campers.  I was so moved that Anna chose me as the recipient of one of her t-shirts.  Each time I see or wear this special shirt I am vividly reminded that we all have unique talents and that many treasured gifts are those that we make and share with others.

Incredible Gift!

A dear friend created a fabulous gift that I'll treasure forever.  She saved all the Christmas card photos we'd sent through the years and created a beautiful album.  It brings great joy on many levels.  Friends, family, memories, creativity and thoughtfulness are captured in this unique gift.

Amazing Gift!

Yesterday, when I arrived home after a busy day, I had a most special gift waiting.  My precious daughter had prepared a printed, bound book of my first year of blogging articles.  I felt like a real author! 

12 Days of Christmas - My Way

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a loving hug and a kiss.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me 2 helping hands.
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me 3 errands run.
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 4 home for dinner.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 5 more minutes.
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 6 great ideas.
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me 7 knowing glances.
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 8 more strings of lights.
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 9 tins of goodies.
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 10 ones for tipping.
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me 11 hundred miles.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 12 gifts delivered.

Presentation

Our daughter was presented at the second of her debutante balls this week.  It's a lovely time of tradition, friendship and excitement.  In honor of her presentation, she chose to cut her hair and donate the locks for a wig to assist someone undergoing medical treatment. 

What a beautiful transformative act!  She has a stylish new look, an unknown beneficiary will have one less worry in the struggle to get well and all of us who love Julia were once again touched by her generous spirit.