All I want for Christmas …

“Happy Christmas to all indeed. Must remember that for 3 days one of the most important things was a live electrical outlet!” So texted my sister Carole, from Toronto, Canada shortly after power was restored to her home.

What do we really need? Last Sunday I observed a woman get totally discombobulated about having to wait in a line (behind me) to purchase a sim card for her phone. She was SO upset – “I can’t wait”; “I have to go”; “I have so many things to do”. She huffed, she puffed, she sighed, she groaned, she wailed, she held her head in her hands and rocked as if in the deepest grief. Her energy pervaded all around her. I breathed deeply and consciously protected my own energy field from her toxicity. I wondered why she didn’t just leave and come back at another time. What does she really need? Did she HAVE to wait? Did she HAVE to have that sim card at that moment?

There are lots of things that 300,000 folks in Toronto thought they HAD to do before and/or have before Christmas. And then the ice storm came last Saturday and knocked out the power for days – some still don’t have power on this Christmas morn. And all the things they had to do withered away, surfacing the truly important things like keeping warm, finding food (and hot coffee), taking care of pets and children, not slipping on the ice, figuring out how to shower without hot water (don’t …). Those are the things that became really important.

So, as my son and sister simultaneously texted at 11.30 p.m. last night “Power is back”, I truly gave thanks for the best Christmas gift this year – my family being safe and warm. That’s all that matters. Everything else is brawta (Jamaican for “extra”).

Keep things in perspective my friends – our wants may be many, but our needs are few and simple. Make sure you know that difference and give thanks for everything! Happy Christmas!