It’s Christmas season and of course this is a perfect time to remind ourselves of the power of our thoughts and actions.
I was listening to a podcast this week and the guy was sharing a story about an average night in his family. It was a long day, he was tired with work left to do and his children were frustrated. His wife stepped in and essentially said, “Listen up. I hope you see how hard your dad works to provide for our family and how he always does so with a strong work ethic and passion, and I hope that you will also grow up to do this for your family.” This magnification on the positive made this guy feel like a million bucks, and in his words, “gave him renewed energy.” What we magnify shines a light and gets our attention. We should all remember that our ability to shift the conversation and the energy in the room to the positive is very real and makes a profound impact on those around us.
Changing up the focus to our inner voices, we are reminded that as we step into the next few weeks, we can either magnify the hectic schedules, that family member that always shows up with a critical comment, the cold weather, the fact that we “aren’t ready yet” – OR we can magnify the quiet and reflective mornings we can curate for ourselves, the opportunity to walk out into the brisk morning with a confident and joyful stride or the excitement of the next few weeks offering us a home full of the love of family and loved ones. What will you magnify?
I am mindful this Advent season that I need to magnify the absolute good. (In fact, today’s Advent meaning is joy.) There is truly so much of it and anything that doesn’t meet that category doesn’t deserve my mental energy.
Praying today that you will find yourself focusing your lives on all that is good; calling out those around you, offering love, gratitude and light. I hope that you will fill your personal conversations, both those with yourself and others with all that provides hope and joy during this beautiful season.