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ACCORDING TO LIZ - How many more things can people fit on their shelves? How many false smiles can they paste on their faces enthusing over something they despise and can’t wait to hide until the moment before the giver comes calling only to stash it away again as soon as the door closes?
How much better would it be if people could just be themselves and enjoy the holidays as a celebration of family and friends, enjoying a sense of community and sharing.
Instead of madly shopping in crowded stores and pushing through pedestrian traffic on dirty streets bedecked with frantically flashing lights…
Instead of dressing up, over-libating, and eating to excess at a myriad of holiday parties with neighbors and co-workers, some of whom one ordinarily loves to hate…
Instead of suffering from holiday angst and malaise brought on by spending beyond one’s means, self-castigating from the fear a gift won’t be appreciated or won’t show how much you love or appreciate someone…
Instead of that overwhelming feeling that you aren’t good enough just by yourself to be appreciated…
How about making this a season for a sea-change.
Share and enjoy what people really need – eating simple food together, sharing satisfying work to prepare it, contemplating of world around us… and friendship.
Strive to establish being in harmony with nature. Make time to connect with Mother Earth with all her beauty and warts. See what you can do to help the latter while remembering that no matter how much lipstick you smear on a pig, it’s still a pig.
During the weeks from Black Friday all the way into the New Year, the pressure is on to perform, to spend, spend, spend... with expensive gifts and elaborate parties and luxurious dining out.
Smile and let it go. Relax into the freedom that letting go brings. Take a deep breath and allow that pressure, that gnawing sense of obligation, that terror about the January bills to come flow away, leaving you at peace.
Corporate-driven holiday methodology will never be enough to fill that ache of dissatisfaction that modern living inculcated in us all.
So why not eschew the mountain of things and the debt it brings.
Instead give a hug, a smile, a cookie or a kiss. No possession can create true happiness, ever. It’s the thought behind it, the time you spend, the memories it evokes that brings real pleasure.
Check out a New York Times Opinion section article [[[https://dnyuz.com/2025/12/16/600-readers-told-us-about-the-best-gifts-they-ever-got-these-are-the-top-13/]]] for ideas you can run with on your own.
It’s the generosity of spirit, over meals of good but not elaborate food, where the gift is the company with whom one shares honest emotions, laughter and good cheer, the joy in one another’s presence.
It’s letting go of self-imposed inhibitions, free-falling to dance with wild abandonment and joy. Movement that is joyful and unselfconscious, not monitored by what others might think.
It’s losing ourselves in physical expression and wonder by dancing to the moon and back again with unrestrained enthusiasm.
It’s embracing the surrounding environment, why do I move, how does it make me feel, it’s listening to my heart. And others.
It’s embracing the wonder of the real world after too much screen time, reveling with real people instead of avatars.
It’s understanding it’s OK to fall, OK to fail. So long as we commit to unselfconsciously picking ourselves up each time we fall or fail, to try, try again.
Stop analyzing and start being.
Stop performing and start existing in the moment.
Reach out to regain what we lost when we listened to the admonition to “grow up!” and consciously divested ourselves from pure playfulness.
Call back that playfulness, enjoy it again, and never let it go.
It’s not making lots of money, it’s spending what you do have wisely and well.
It’s taking the time and effort to come up with a gift that demonstrates to the recipient that they are truly seen and valued.
It’s trusting that good deeds, love, and kindness will multiply, and raise the quality of everybody’s life around you.
It’s believing whole-heartedly that respect, health, and happiness are worth more than money and mansions, and that self-satisfaction is the ultimate measure of success.
Instead of spoiling happiness by desiring what we don’t have, it’s expressing gratitude for what we do have… a key element of which is not being avaricious, not wanting more than what’s enough.
Even if it doesn’t come easy, it’s always worthwhile to work together towards unconditional love, and joy and happiness forever.
Choose to surround oneself and work with people, new and old, that you respect and care for.
Respect the sacredness of the universe, appreciate the power of your own path, that it is just as valid as any other.
If you want something different, choose to let go of the past, take a leap of faith and make space for that new reality, welcome in new opportunities and new relationships.
Embrace obstacles as learning experiences on the way, reach out for the wisdom to absorb what is useful, the skill to go around what is not, and the grace and courage to face what remains.
Let unconscious obstacles to growth and change, those old “mother messages” drift away forever and replace them with sweet dreams of a better future.
Give a gift from the heart to yourself, and of yourself, to those you care for. Have faith in and stick with your dreams, achieving one goal at a time until you create the reality you crave.
Here’s indomitably wishing everyone peace and prosperity, an abiding faith in humanity and joy of spirit through the holiday season and the coming year. And love.
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
(Liz Amsden is a former Angeleno now living in Vermont and a regular CityWatch contributor. She writes on issues she’s passionate about, including social justice, government accountability, and community empowerment. Liz brings a sharp, activist voice to her commentary and continues to engage with Los Angeles civic affairs from afar. She can be reached at [email protected].)
