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This is optimal living daily episode 14 27 the meaning of the season and bring back Christmas both by Ali Cornish of ever Thrive dot org and just a mall like the guy that reads to you every single day of the year including weekends and holidays help you live a more meaningful and positive life speaking of holidays. I have to post today for you talking about this season both from ever Thrive dot-org. So let's get right to them as we optimize your life. The meaning of the Season by Ali Cornish of ever thrive dot-org. The holidays forces to make time to be grateful to connect with family and to engage in conversation around a plentiful table. We cook together clean together travel together in close proximity. We sleep on the floor so that the older ones can take the beds we make room for the cats for the dog and we snuggle on couches with hot tea while watching the parade on TV. There is stillness in Simplicity and breathing the same air as our mothers and fathers and grandparents. There's a calm that accompanies the repetition of time. I said tradition. There's a warmth that memories of the past brain to our hearts and there's a Sweetness in the expectation of happy holidays to come varying in type in degree across all kinds of families our special holiday rituals, give us that deliciously satisfying sense of closeness presence and warmth that pave the way to the New Year. Sometimes all the truth and beauty of the holidays can be overlooked by everything leading up to it. Let's start with the first holiday of the Season Thanksgiving in recent years or perhaps it's been happening for ages. I've noticed that Thanksgiving has lost some of its closeness presence and warmth Thanksgiving is gradually become a time for Christmas decorations and shopping most if not all major department stores offer Black Friday deals for smaller businesses. There's something called small business Saturday and every retailer has their own version of Cyber Monday givingtuesday. And so many more shops even open on Thanksgiving Day for Black Friday specials coupled into the biggest shopping weekend of the year. The sanctity of this historic day has been broken. If you peek back into history, you'll discover that the date of the holiday was moved by Roosevelt to extend the Christmas shopping season by one week. How can we find meaning and importance in the beginning of the holiday season if Thanksgiving weekend is actually an economic requirement Thanksgiving has lost its way in the American calendar. It has been stomped over and downtrodden by lines of intense confrontational Shoppers waiting to get there early bird wristbands and by the latest J'adore clothing item impatient and intolerant we lash out at others if our expectations aren't met, please Google racist rant at Chicago Michaels to see what I mean, perhaps the season of thankfulness is only a cover-up for our economic dependence on compulsive materialism. We want to be thankful. But here we are circling laps through the self-indulgent lands of capitalism running an inner Marathon. We are too busy cultivating our outward thankfulness to realize what we are actually doing Snapping selfies during the holiday season are narcissism spills over and edited images of ourselves. Here's me being thankful or here's me with a 24 pound turkey I cooked and again, here's me with my family. And of course we must also include all the appropriate ornamental hashtags. So blessed thankful 2016 pass the gravy thankful Day Count Your Blessings turkey coma Etc when families get together to share in their lives wonderful results can occur Generations collide. And meaning is made new truths are told and memories are wrapped up in hugs laughter and pensive moments before the dawn of a new year magical moments come alive. And we suspend our disbelief without asking how or why and when that magic returns to us. We smiled the echo of our parents voices from many decades ago if you are quiet and listen closely, you just might hear the bells on Santa's sleigh wonderful results can only occur if we intentionally shed at least some of the superficiality of the holiday. We really should be tapping into the true, meaning of the season in order to authentically feel the Simplicity warms and presence of the holiday. We should ask ourselves number one. Why are we celebrating number two? What about this day or moment? Brings us joy number three, how can we grow even just a little bit from an interaction with a cousin more and or brother number four? Why are we going through Such Great Lengths to produce a perfectly seasoned succulent turkey. And number five moreover. How can we extend our Harvest of thankfulness year-round and two others in this world quote cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you and give thanks continuously because all things have contributed to your advancement. You should include all things in your gratitude Ralph Waldo Emerson. I have another Post in just a sec. But first thank you to sicarra which has organic meal plan deliveries that boost your mind body and spirit you want to feel good about what you eat. But sometimes it's hard to prepare healthy meals that also taste good healthy meals don't have to be boring or Bland. It's a car is super food breakfast cookie comes with chrysanthemum cranberry jam. It was really really good. And this a car Burger I had was packed with Ze flavors really great stuff. I felt amazing less bloated. Entire week subscribers experience weight lost clear skin increased energy and less blowed after a short amount of time as the cars programs. 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Meaningful time with my family. How did I have a meaningful conversation or connection with anyone? Am I just a grinch or what? I really don't like feeling like this getting family together. The holidays shouldn't be a trouble or a burden the phrase worth the trouble doesn't really work here after all spending meaningful time with families shouldn't be trouble at all. Sometimes we try to hold onto past Traditions. So tightly that we miss other opportunities that would better suit us if there doesn't seem to be a point to the current. Oils and Christmas really is a burden after all. What's the point of the holidays? Anyway last year my husband Josh and I ended up staying at home in Fort Collins for the holidays. This wasn't the initial intention. We had planned on traveling to Michigan to see his family. Unfortunately a relative in Florida became ill and Christmas in Michigan was canceled. We were sad about this but in the end we didn't really mind his plane tickets from Denver to Detroit were incredibly pricey at that time of year and I being four months pregnant was Dealing with daily in and out nausea the thought of sitting through a potentially turbulent flight made me want to vomit. Anyway, instead. We spend Christmas at home. We made waffles. We watch Christmas movies snuggled our dog Chauncey and enjoyed the day on the couch relishing the slow sanctity of our little cocoon family. We thought about our baby the future and how far we'd come to get to our happy present. We called our families and shared holiday Joy with them all for dinner. We went to a local Thai restaurant where the service was. Exceptionally languid but since slow was the theme of the day, we really didn't mind at all. We really did have a simple heartfelt and natural Christmas. The only thing missing was the rest of our family Christmas should be simple heartfelt in natural this year. We are traveling to see my family in the Chicago area for the holiday and to everyone's excitement were bringing seven-month-old ever baby with us. He just started sitting up exercising all his vocal cords and executing slow 360s on the carpet is a great will Explore and casts a sweet soft smile at everyone he meets I can't wait to see Ever babysitting before the Christmas tree adorned with twinkly bubbly lights and ornaments from my childhood. I can't wait to watch him take it all in. I hope we can experience his many first slowly without rushing. I want to wrap our whole family up in a blanket and snuggle them and share our joy with grandparents aunts and uncles this year. I'm going to bring back Christmas. I'm going to bring back Christmas for my son and for sustainable. A future of holidays to come this year. I'm going to decline participating in holiday traditions that leave me feeling exhausted empty and overwhelmed this year. I'm going to stop living outdated expectations of the holidays this year. I'm going to support a simple mindful meaningful holiday. We're both connecting with loved ones and connecting with the spirit of Christmas is the focus. Will you join me in bringing the holidays back to the basics and whatever way that means to you? Let's bring back Christmas. You just listen to The Post titled the meaning of the season and bring back Christmas both by Ali Cornish of ever Thrive dot-org leave it there for today. Hope you're having a great week and I'll be back tomorrow for the Friday show where your optimal life awaits.
2 short posts from Ali Cornish of Everthrive where she shares her thoughts the meaning of the season and bringing back Christmas. Episode 1427: The Meaning of the Season AND Bring Back Christmas by Ali Cornish of Everthrive on Happy Holidays Ali Cornish created Everthrive as a response to the increasing pace, materialism, and detachment of today's society. Through words and photos, she brings awareness to the importance of living simply, healthfully, and authentically. Life can be better lived when we disconnect from distraction, slow down, and focus on what is truly important. In addition to managing and contributing to Everthrive, she also helps others create compelling content for websites, campaigns, and social media ventures through The Media Acorn. The original posts are located here: http://everthrive.org/blog/2016/11/21/the-meaning-of-the-season  &  http://everthrive.org/blog/2018/11/30/bring-back-christmas Please Rate & Review the Show! Facebook Group and Join the Ol' Family to get your Free Gifts! 