Thanks to T-Mobile and my friend David Sunfellow, I’ve just  had a wonderful treat this morning.  This beautiful video made at Heathrow Terminal 5, International Arrivals.   For those of you who watch television, maybe you’ve seen the short version, but I don’t watch TV so I’ve never seen this.

I was amazed at the emotion this brought up.  In high school I used to drive over to Chicago’s O’Hare airport from my small town in Michigan, just to watch people come and go.  The coming home greetings would always touch me deeply, as was the case with this video.  How beautiful to see people giving the gift of hugs, kisses, smiles…welcoming each other, loving each other.  We don’t get to see these kind of feelings expressed one to another in many places, airports being one exception.  And in airports, maybe because of the long travel, or the time away, people usually are not shy about being expressive. You get to witness the most unrestrained joy.  Joyous screams, joyous kisses, joyous hugs….joy just oozing out, bubbling over and touching everyone else!

My invitation to you this holiday season is to express your love for friends and family in a new expressive way.  Open your mind, open your heart and give from that place of pure love, with no attachment to the outcome.  Don’t worry about how it will be received, that is their choice not yours!

Here are some ideas for sharing from the heart:

• Big hugs, often!
• Kisses too!
• Find a youtube video that a loved one would enjoy and send to them…free!
• Share a walk in the park, a hike in the woods, build a snowperson.
• Send online greeting cards, again usually FREE, and saves trees.
• Give the gift of service, offer to clean the house, babysit, walk the dog, feed the cat, take an elderly person shopping, fix dinner.
• More hugs and kisses
• Tell someone you love them and add why. “I love you because you read my blog and post comments…I so appreciate hearing that you were touched!”
• Invite someone over for a cup of tea or coffee….talk…turn off your cell phones…that’s right no calls, no texting, no checking email.
• Go to the airport with a friend and watch people greet each other…let yourselves feel the emotion.
• Hold hands with your partner.
• Turn off the TV…watch a fire, or read a beautiful passage from a favorite book, more hand holding is perfectly acceptable too!
• Can’t afford a Christmas tree, get out your ornaments and decorate a tree outside.   Invite your Jewish friends to help!
• Share one of your traditions (Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Solstice, Ramadan, etc.) with a friend who is not of your faith. I went to a friends Chanukah concert one year and cried it was so beautiful (thanks Karen)!  One year I invited Jewish friends over to help decorate the Christmas tree…have you ever heard a grown man say, “This is the first ornament I have ever hung on a tree”?  (thanks Arthur)
• Go caroling…remember caroling?
• Trade services, or do a big project together.
• Visit a temple, church, shrine or ceremony that is not of your faith…enjoy their traditions.    One year I went to  Christmas Eve midnight mass,  I found it beautiful, and not fraught with any baggage for me.
• Give away a favorite book, or just copy a favorite passage to pass on.
• Go through old photos and give them to friends or family
• Volunteer together with a friend at a shelter, charity, park, picking up road trash, etc.  Bonus – more time together!
• LISTEN!   Maybe the most precious gift of all!

How can you share the gift of your love, your joy, your peace, your compassion, your wisdom, your talents, your caring, your creativity, your heart this year? 

JOY TO THE WORLD!!! 

PEACE TO THE WORLD!!

LOVE TO YOU AND YOURS!

Please leave your comments below.   Have an idea for sharing love and joy? I would love to hear it!

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