Many associate the Advent season with stress and hectic activity. Yet, the days before and during Christmas are actually particularly well-suited for reflecting on essential values: charity, mindfulness, helpfulness, and social commitment. At Christmas, you can focus on being the person you want to be all year round.
A time for contemplation?
For many, contemplation may be a religiously charged term. But the word itself contains its true meaning: contemplation has to do with "sense" or "meaning." It is about seeking and, above all, finding meaningful values in life. What is truly important to you? And what are the most important values of the people around you? You don't have to be religious to appreciate people's Christmas efforts toward kindness and charity. And using the time around Christmas for this is arguably one of the most valuable gifts you can give to others and to yourself.
Give time instead of stuff
Spending time together, in the form of a lovingly handmade voucher for shared activities, often brings more joy than something bought ready-made. You make people who are lonely—perhaps because they have lost their partner and have no family left—happy with this. Think about what might do your fellow human beings good. This could be a joint concert visit with a widowed uncle, mowing the lawn for Grandpa, or a trip to go swimming with the children. With empathy and creativity, meaningful gifts can be found. And the joy you get back is priceless. A website that supports this idea is, for example: www.zeit-statt-zeug.de.
More charity – more Christmas
Helping others and treating them with kindness and warmth fills us with happiness and satisfaction, and this spreads to others as well. Social psychologists confirm: those who commit themselves to their fellow human beings are also more at peace with their own lives. People are generally more satisfied with themselves and their lives when they help others. The more direct the contact with the recipients of help, the greater one's own gratification. Social organizations or communities often organize charitable Advent evenings where you can bring joy to those in need, for example, with homemade cookies. In doing so, you give people who normally have few social contacts the feeling that they are not alone. In the process, children learn that giving is indeed beautiful. Speaking of children: For the little ones, being able to help is often the best part. Be it while baking cookies, wrapping gifts, or thinking about what others might really need.
Wise Christmas – people helping people
Christmas, in particular, is a time that you should fill with meaning. Of course, you can volunteer year-round. But especially during the Advent and Christmas season, the misery of people without a home, without a family, and without safe shelter is even more apparent—a good time to start your commitment. Many aid organizations offer projects where you can help even with small things. These could, for example, be warm clothing items like winter jackets, sweaters, or scarves, which warm the soul as well. But it is not just material donations that are especially needed now. In many cities, church-organized Christmas dinners take place for the homeless. Ask your city or municipality where and when such dinners are held, or how else you can practice charity.
Aid organizations and charity
Aid organizations need our support all year round. Now, at Christmas, is a good opportunity to get started. Be it on a small scale by buying UNICEF Christmas greeting cards, the proceeds of which support health, education, and child protection programs. Or by sponsoring a starving child in the Third World for a year through SOS Children's Villages. Other organizations such as "TERRE DES FEMMES" campaign for women's human rights. They fight for better working conditions in textile factories in low-wage countries, where young women and girls still have to work under inhumane conditions. The list of meaningful ways to do good is long.
Perhaps the time around Christmas is an impetus to also ensure a better world in the long term. Doing good all year round and thinking more about others.
Vitamin C Shot 1,000
High-dose, liposomal vitamin C drinking ampoules
• Are you interested in health products for Christmas stress? You can find what you are looking for here.
