How to create gifts that are fun to make and fun to receive!
No matter what holiday you celebrate this season, this time of year sparks excitement from young to old with the promise of joy, tasty food, generosity, quality time with loved ones, meaningful conversations, and laughter. But sometimes the most wonderful time of the year may not feel so wonderful after all.
Too often we get swept away in the frantic chaos of gift shopping, awkward family gatherings and office parties, or the pressure of cooking dinner for (or simply being around) a large group of people at once. We end up spending our holidays doing things that don’t bring us true happiness, resulting in loneliness, frustration, and sadness during what is supposed to be the happiest time of the year.
But what if our happiness, connectedness, and wholeheartedness could increase this holiday season based on a simple formula? What if the typical holiday frustrations just didn’t exist?
The secret formula lies in living in spiritual and material-balance:
Something Spiritual + Something Material = A Harmonious Holiday
It took me over a decade to discover how we can use this balance in our day-to-day lives, and have found that most of us are living in spiritual material conflict. So how can you find balance and transform it into a holiday of spiritual-material abundance? And more importantly, how can you use this information to have a holiday season you enjoy?
Experiences are more fulfilling than things, so step beyond your comfort zone and be creative. Use this formula to get more creative:
Creative Experience + Make Your Own Gifts = Joy, Fun, Gratifying
Making your own gifts and provide ongoing enjoyment for both you and the recipient. You’ll discover how gratifying it is to create one-of-a-kind presents. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Homemade Creations: Create perishable gifts, special food items like jams, chutney, candy, nut-mixtures bath salts with essential oils. Wrap them beautifully.
- Uplifting Nature Gifts: Offer plants to uplift the spirit: herbs in a container for the windowsill, a bonsai tree, a glass vase with winter bulbs, or a package of wildflower seeds to sow in a pot.
- Rhymes and Riddles: Create your own holiday cards and write a rhyme or riddle on each gift, inviting people to guess what the gift is before they open it (this is fun Swedish tradition).
- Shared Experiences: Offer a shared experience, something fun you can do together during the year. This way you can prolong the holidays and enjoy friendship and connection after all the gifts have been opened.
You can find inner fulfillment without having to give up life’s material comforts. Using this Spiritual-Material Formula, you can invest greater meaning, connection, and happiness into the traditional activities of the holidays.
Play with it and have fun! Come up with your own creative ways to imbue this season with your unique spirit.
However you choose to celebrate, may you find joy, fulfillment, and lasting peace.
Blessings for a fulfilling and gratifying holiday,
Anna
P.S. Here’s a link to my TEDx talk where I give examples of how to balance spiritual fulfillment with material enjoyment: You Can Eat Your Cake and have Enlightenment Too.
