What Do You Want for Christmas?

We are all confronted with the pandemic and its impact on the world. It is a sad story. With a lot of bad chapters. Yet, there is some light too. People are resilient and they can still makes choices that serve their well-being and the ones they are connected with. See the human resilience as a Christmas tree that lights up in a dark and cold winter night. If father Christmas - with a protective mask of course - would meet you in your own street and he would ask you the following question, "What do you want for Christmas?", what would you say?

Do you have a long list of desires and needs that you crave? Would you keep it rather simple? Or would you just look at Father Christmas and whisper, no masks anymore please. We all have had enough of it by now. The light at the end of the tunnel is waving at us, yet we still need to walk through our journey of reality. Let us not forget to live either. It is not forbidden to dream and it goes without saying that we still are allowed to want things in life. The world might be in lockdown but our hearts and spirits should remain free.

I am sure many of us are aware now what really matters in life. It is quite obvious. The rules have been repeated many times. The essential life encompasses supermarket visits for groceries, going to health care professionals, core family contacts, enjoying nature, having a cosy home and being able to work. When we can work, we are among the lucky ones. We wear masks in the streets, we use alcohol gel to protect our health and we ensure we keep enough distance from strangers and maybe from our loved ones when viruses are near.

So, should we ask for more masks and alcohol gel? Well no. Let's ask for more awareness how to spend our precious time in such a way that we feel that we are truly living. Let's ask for more insights how each of us with his or her own strengths can make a difference in someone's life. Let's ask for more compassion to support others who feel drained by all the negativity around the pandemic. Let's ask for more self-love and love for others. Let's ask for how we can rebuild life after the pandemic in a way that everyone feels involved and connected.

Let's hope Father Christmas is able to read our hearts and minds. Let's hope he is patient enough to walk through all the dust of painful experiences and memories for many of us. He will also enjoy the expressions of tenderness for the ones that never lost hope. He already knows what we need most of all. It is up to us to find a way closer to our real needs, so we can make a clear distinction between wants and needs. Needs truly satisfy us, whereas wants just temporarily stop our hunger. So what do you really need for Christmas? Let's hope it finds you. In the starry nights. Behind the mask of father Christmas a sweet smile appears. Hope, faith and love never run out of stock.

By Liesbeth Leysen