How to Grow Your Heart this Holiday

December 23, 2011 | Filed Under Holidays, Love | 2 responses 

At last, we’re in the final countdown of the holidays! I’ve been waiting excitedly to share with you one of my favorite holiday stories (at the end of this article) and my favorite advice for fully enjoying the holiday spirit.

If you think about it, all the gifts, parties, and holiday fuss boil down to one thing — love. Love is the #1 ingredient we need to experience holiday cheer and the absence of it is what brings holiday woe.

So how can you experience more love this season?

Practice being a good receiver!

What you say? Isn’t this season about giving? Yes, giving is a wonderful thing that helps us feel good, but if we can’t fully receive people’s gifts and kindness, open up to support, and let love in then we can’t actually FEEL the love.

Unfortunately, many people have a hard time receiving. Here are three ways you can strengthen your receiving muscle this holiday:

1. Pay attention to the gifts all around you each day — not just the BIG gifts, but the small ones, as well. Notice the kindness of the salesclerk, the smile on your neighbor’s face, the beauty of the winter landscape. Be on the look-out for the many gifts of the day.

2. Look for the blessings — even in the hard stuff, which often shows up during this season. Just as an experiment, assume that everything that happens is a gift for you. The universe is on your side. How would you look at and experience your challenges differently, if you imagined it was all for your good? Give it a try.

3. Savor the good. My neuropsychologist friend Rick Hanson says that it takes about 20 seconds to deeply register the good. So, acknowledge a compliment rather than dismiss it, express appreciation for the gifts you receive. Deeply take things in and bathe in them.

I’d love to hear what tips you use to open up and receive. Please share them with me at http://www.facebook.com/MarciShimoffFan.

Now, for a fabulous holiday story (receive it and enjoy)…

A Happy for No Reason Holiday Story

I was deeply touched by the following story that was told to me by a young father, one of my “Happy 100″ who I interviewed for Happy for No Reason:

When my oldest daughter, Victoria, was almost three, we read Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas every night to her before the holiday.

She’d curl up beside me as I’d read: “Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot. But the Grinch, who lived just north of Who-ville, Did NOT!”

Victoria followed along as the Grinch unveils his plans to ruin the Christmas of the Whos. Disguising himself as Santa and his dog as a reindeer, the Grinch steals into the Whos’ homes and takes everything, leaving only the hooks and wires on the bare walls. But to his surprise, the Whos remain happy despite the loss of the presents and trees and trimmings and trappings.

He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming; “it came just the same.”

On that Christmas morning, we woke just ahead of Victoria so that we could watch her three-year-old enthusiasm as she saw the presents under the tree. She first ran to the kitchen table where she had left a snack for Santa and his reindeer. She looked at the evidence of Santa’s visit: the cookie crumbs on the plate and the empty milk glass and the missing carrots. My wife, pregnant with our second child, and I beamed seeing our daughter so wide-eyed and excited at the thought that Santa himself had been in our home. Next, she ran into the living room and saw the presents under the tree.

We expected her to dive into them — but she didn’t. She held up her little hand and she said, “Stop. Let’s pretend. Let’s pretend the Grinch has been here and took everything and left just hooks and wires and we’d still be happy.”

So we stopped, and were happy. And like the Grinch, my heart grew three sizes that day.

I wish you great love this holiday season and every day — may you let the love in fully and allow it to grow your heart three sizes.

With love for no reason and every reason, Marci


Comments

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2 Responses to “How to Grow Your Heart this Holiday”

    1
      Halina - Flow~Integration on December 23rd, 2011 12:40 pm

      Thank you…

      Here’s a another practice that works very well too: For many people, the pattern of non-receptivity also comes out as habitual rejection or dissatisfaction with physical presents and money. I (and my clients) found it very helpful (and enlightening) to make it a rule to accept EVERY present that we’re given (even if you think it’s too much, or not what you really want, or inappropriate or whatever other excuse or reason you may have).

      Happy Receiving! :-)

    2
      Karen Wilhelm Buckley on December 28th, 2011 10:15 pm

      My husband of 31 years, Rick, and I started a new heart opening practice. We sit, each centering in our own radiance, and soften our hearts. Then we place between us any question or issue and in the heart flow between us we consider slowly and with care. It works!

      My 3 favorite questions for reflection are on my blog this week cause when we let go and notice what is emerging, our shoulders drop and we smile. http://www.karenwilhelmbuckley.com

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