A Time For Giving

Are you ready for Christmas?

More importantly, are you looking forward to Christmas?

With only a few days to go till Christmas, you will no doubt be busy with last minute shopping, clearing your work desk or preparing for visitors.

While Christmas is a time for giving and a time for sharing, it can also be one of the most stressful times of the year. There is the stress of buying the right presents, the financial stress, the stress of preparing Christmas lunch and the stress of having all the family and guests visiting. There can be so much to do and so much to prepare.

Some will be spending Christmas by themselves or without a loved one. Others will have a baby in the home or young children and they will all enjoy the anticipation, the big smiles and 5:00am wake-up as eager little ones arise to see if Santa has been. One of the greatest joys is seeing young children opening their presents.

Regardless of your situation, enjoy the time. As life is about choices, you have the choice as to how you process Christmas and what you want to get out of it. You can make it a depressing time by focusing on the negatives or you can make it a happy joyous occasion by focusing on the positives.

As an extra, to help make the World a better place, do something special for someone this Christmas. Make the time to add some pleasure to someone's life. It may be giving a present to a needy person, giving a hamper to a family in need or it may be simply making a phone call to someone you haven't spoken to in ages.

You will be surprised at how much joy you can receive from the power of helping and giving. For example, a friend is inviting four people who each live alone to her home for Christmas lunch so they will be able to celebrate with others rather than spend the day by themselves.

What a great gesture - and think of the joy this will give to all.

Here's the great part of giving:

When you give, serotonin (a good feel chemical) is released in your body. The person giving experiences a rise in serotonin as does the person receiving. When you observe someone giving to another, you also receive an increase in serotonin.

What can you do to add some joy to someone's Christmas ... and life?