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Family
The Five Best Gifts to Give Your Family
By Margaret Paul, Ph.D.
When we think of giving gifts, we usually think of things to buy for
people. Yet if you think back on gifts you’ve been given, it might
not be the material gifts you received that are foremost in your
mind – it might be the kind of gifts that deeply touched your heart
and soul.
It might be various ways, other than material things, that people
expressed their love to you.
There are five gifts of love that we can give to
our families that can make a huge difference in their lives.
THE GIFT OF CARING AND COMPASSION
We all yearn to feel cared for, yet many of us
withhold caring and compassion for others. A profound gift we can
give to our loved ones is to listen with our heart, to understand
and accept rather than to judge, and to stay open to learning rather
than to protect against being hurt.
Think about the last time someone actually
listened to you and gave you understanding and acceptance. The
feeling of being understood and accepted with caring and compassion
is one of the best feelings in the world.
Instead of focusing on getting this from others, why not focus on
giving it to others? You might be surprised at how wonderful you
feel in giving this gift to your family.
THE GIFT OF COURAGE
One of the best gifts we can give our loved ones
is our own courage. This means being having the courage to stand in
our truth, to be honest about what we want and don’t want, what we
will do and won’t do, what is and what is not acceptable to us. It
means having the courage to take good care of ourselves, even if
others don’t like it. I
t means not succumbing to our controlling behaviors that come from
fear: anger, withdrawal, compliance, resistance, but instead being
honest and above-board about ourselves. It means being willing to
face conflict rather than give ourselves up to avoid it.
When we have the courage to face conflict and tell
the truth, we not only provide our family with a role model for
courage, but we provide opportunities for our loved ones to step up
to the plate in the face of our truth and learn to be courageous
too.
THE GIFT OF SERVICE
We are on this planet to learn to love ourselves
and each other, and to help each other. One of the best gifts we can
give our family is to role model this by doing service. Helping
others fills the heart and soul in ways that nothing else can.
If children do not see their parents doing service and helping
others, they may never learn the great joy and fulfillment that
comes from giving. One of the best gifts we can give to our family
is to provide ways of doing service.
THE GIFT OF CREATIVITY
All of us are born with various ways of expressing
our creativity. Expressing creativity is a profound way of
connecting with Spirit, since expressed creativity is a direct
expression of Spirit. Providing your family with many ways of
expressing their creativity is a great gift.
Creativity can be expressed in so many ways – cooking, crafts,
building things, music, art, movement, telling stories, writing,
humor, photography and video – the possibilities are endless!
Creative family projects are especially wonderful in creating family
closeness.
THE GIFT OF LIGHTNESS OF BEING
Lightness of being – fun, joy, laughter,
playfulness – is a great gift to give to others. Lightness of being
is infectious – our laughter and playfulness can help others take
life less seriously and “lighten up.”
Lightness of being is one the results of all the
other gifts – of caring, courage, service and creativity. When we
give these gifts, we feel a wonderful lightness within, the
lightness that is the result of fully giving from the heart.
Our own lightness of being can bring lightness into our whole
family. Children love it when their parents are playful, fun loving
and joyful. Laughing together as a family is one of the most
precious experiences in life.
We need to focus of giving these gifts each day,
not just during a holiday season or special occasions. These gifts
are far more important than any material thing we can buy for
someone. In fact, we might not be so focused on material gifts if we
frequently give the gift of love – of caring, compassion, courage,
service, creativity, and lightness of being.
Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of
eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?"
She is the co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process.
Learn Inner Bonding now! Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding
course: http://www.innerbonding.com
or mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com . Phone sessions available.
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