This Christmas - Be Ruthless

Unless you are very lucky this Christmas Day, you will likely be blessed with the festive dilemma of an unwanted present.

How you accept and dispose of your unwanted/unneeded gift will, of course, depend greatly on many things.

Even so, one might argue that it’s the ‘thought’ that counts.

However, for the sake of sanity and propriety, there has to be a limit to the ghastly, inappropriate, incongruent and shoddy gifts that are sometimes bestowed upon us at Christmas.

And I was pondering, that our emotions too can turn up like unwanted gifts. Irritation, anger, self-doubt, jealousy, shame, impatience, envy and greed, amongst others, can ruin quickly, a perfectly pleasant day.

The irony is that instead of discarding the emotions, many of us hold on to them. And this seems as illogical and foolish as keeping bath salts when you only have a shower in the house.

Marcus Aurelius understood that unwanted emotions are like useless presents, when he said, “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your emotions.”

May I suggest then, that for Christmas you become ruthless with undesirable emotions. Ditch them for good and enjoy the feeling of sovereignty over useless and damaging emotions. I promise, the effort will be worth it and it will be the best present you ever give yourself.

Oh, and you might want to send your unwanted gifts to a charity shop. After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.