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We’re once again

in the much awaited season of

all. People look forward to this time

of the year with much anticipation.

It’s a time of fun and merrymaking, and a time for gifts.

A gift is always a nice thought, whether you’re hoping to receive or intending to give one. But a gift also has other sides to it – we receive gifts we do not like or give gifts we do not want to give. Not everybody understands the true meaning of a gift.

Some people get too burdened about what to give. This is especially so when budget is tight, or when the giving is not sincere. Others devote much more time and effort in wrapping their gifts than they did in choosing them.

Why all the fuss about wrapping the gift? We tend to overdo it that by the time the gift is wrapped and wrapped and over-wrapped, the we often become too pre-occupied with projecting a certain image that we tend to lose idea of what we are really about inside. Underneath the various layers of wrapping, our true selves are gasping for breath.

Being alive is the greatest gift we are given. This may sound cliché, but it’s true. A lifetime is an amazing package filled with potentials for success, happiness, love and joy for all. But it’s a gift that is highly perishable – when we hold it back, it grows stale.

No one is ever so poor not to be able to give a gift. We can all give a little piece of ourselves. To offer our time, our service, our companionship to those who need it can be as valuable, if not more valuable, than anything we can afford to buy.

True, such gift may not instantly draw out that grateful smile like a physical gift does. The impact of a kind gesture may not readily manifest on the face of its recipient. Yet it is sure to have some positive effect in his life.

We humans are each a part of an enormous totality. It is in our nature to want to be one with the rest of our own kind. It’s only when we overcome feelings of insecurity and indifference that the divine in us is stirred up and our experience of life will expand beautifully.

Freedom is a valuable gift we can give to ourselves – freedom to reach out kindly to the world without fear of rejection or desire of getting anything in return. This, I believe, is the way we were meant to be. There is no need for wrapping our lives with worries and fears.

Gift-giving should not be an obligation but a sincere intention to share – not only what we have but, more importantly, what we are. It is in giving that we receive, in giving of ourselves that we become whole. accomplish anything block bloom books bound carp cascade claim clear cloud cross dizzy doing everybody flame garden held late manipulate motor nurse polish radio raise really report rind rink scad sight sole sunshine there tired travel trust upset value