Ah, the Christmas season! What joy...what frustration!
Shopping. Crowds. Traffic. Family. Lists. Lines. Canned carols. Wassail steeped at Christmas has nothing on simmering holiday frustration.
Long, long ago, Plato published a recipe that tops both:
"Be kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
And this is a recipe that has to steep, too. On Facebook and Twitter and through email we read inspiring quotes all the time. How long do they keep us inspired? How deeply does the wisdom that briefly opens our hearts spread? It's got to steep to spread. It's a recipe that calls for steeping.
Then serving.
While shopping in crowded stores, bogged down in traffic or long checkout lines--or on the third day with family--pause, breathe, come back to your truest self.
Then practice Plato's mantra: Be kind--everybody here is fighting a hard battle.
As you repeat the phrases, breathe, and locate kindness in yourself.
Where is it? What is it's source in you? Rejoice when you find it. Savor it in yourself for a moment or two. Let it steep.
And after you've tasted it in yourself and it tastes good, then serve it up to others in whatever way is consistent with who you are.
