Catching up....

Well, it has been a while and that is not to say that we have not been doing anything, but the line from the song in Snow White 'busy doing nothing' does seem to ring true. Isn't it amazing and somewhat overwhelming to find that we are busying ourselves doing a lot of nothing that is any good for us? For me it is chasing my tail, organising myself and then forgetting to note something down and then re-organising so that before I know it I am all over the shop! This time of year there are so many things to be juggling around and we are so busy trying not to drop any of those balls we continually have in the air that we can forget to take a time out for ourselves and just breathe. It creeps up on us doesn't it. We make these wonderful promises to ourselves and then we forget to say 'no' to those little add-ons that appear. How is it that we choose, particularly at this time of year to give so much of ourselves away now? How can we not give ourselves as much consideration as we do to shopping for things no-one really needs most of the time? What if we were to give just our presence instead of presents...? What if we were mindful of our need for self care so that we can give of ourselves without tipping the balance into stress. I am not saying that we should neglect our friends and relatives, what I am saying is that we often gift them items and forget to be mindful to their needs. The exchange of gifts between each of us is about how well we know the recipient these days, or indeed if we are not sure we - I was about to write 'we get them socks', but now iTunes have taken over the role of the 'I have no idea what to get them' ah the generational changes. I have no idea how I got onto this track - it certainly wasn't my intention at the beginning to write about this so I can only surmise that my unconscious mind is having me notice now that I have been remiss on looking at the things that matter, to the things I should be taking care of now....Recent unscheduled trips to hospital with my husband took me into the space of what is important in life. Even though we don't celebrate Christmas we are slightly earlier and celebrate Yule at the Solstice, we are in a familial community who do and so we respect that and wait to exchange gifts. More and more though, our family are taking to the idea of our 'differences' particularly the younger members who find it a 'cool idea' and I must admit I enjoy the freedom of being deemed eccentric or just plain weird. Expectations are not there so we don't disappoint. Less stress comes with real communication. We don't want presents of things from our youngsters, we prefer their presence, their gift of sharing joy, laughter and fun. Making a memory, giving hugs which are of course stress relievers and free! Not only that but these gifts never disappoint.