The darkest months of the year are nearly here. On Sunday we celebrate the first day of Advent. What I miss, as my kids grow up, is the ‘spiral’ at school.
A large spiral made of green pine branches, with a large candle in the middle.
The children have been busy making their beeswax candles surrounded by a golden edge stuck in an apple. Then the take their apples, one by one, and silently walk to the centre of the spiral and light their candle from the main light, and walk from spiral the inside to the outside Their underlying thought is that that they have lit their inner light. They have lit the Great Light.
When we feel in a more gloomy mood because of the dark days, it is our inner light that warms us.
If the sun doesn’t embrace you, you have to embrace the warmth yourself.
Or we could embrace others but that is not possible now, in this corona virus times. However. I have an alternative.
It is nothing new but I’m doing it on a larger scale now.
The advent calendar!
Every time you open a door and you get a chocolate or a gift, it puts a smile on your face.
Let us pass on that smile, that happiness onto someone else.
I bought advent calendars for the entire class of both of my school-aged children. I have discussed it with the respective teachers and my daughter can now tell, in her class about Advent and the beauty of making others happy. They are going to keep a box in which the children can put a note describing something that they did for someone on that day. At the end of the month they will look at it all. The box stays there and if someone has a hard time, they can take a piece of paper out of that box and be reminded that there are also beautiful things and that you are not alone.
I know many women,: strong women, good women, independent women, brave women, sociable women, intelligent women, women with one or all of these character traits and I feel, hear and see that despite their strength and strength, it is not easy for them at the moment .
The financials starts to weigh in for many. Then loneliness, the lack of chats outside the bubble, of hugs, of dinners, of the warmth of the sun on their skin, of anything and everything.
It is sometimes difficult to let the positive take precedence now that we are confronted with so much bad news every day.
Those “strong” women, who can also be men, are often better at giving than receiving. You also give that to a friend with an advent calendar, the chance to learn how nice it is to receive a present every day. You look forward to it all day long, to that magical moment when you can open a door. Then when the door is open and you find the treasure, the mission is accomplished, the smile unfolds and that is exactly what makes that day so special.
That’s why we decided to spend our Christmas budget on Advent calendars (or lockdown calendars as I call them) and try to give someone at least one smile a day.
Today I saw a short video by Tijn Touber and he explains what I I have been saying for so long, the solution to all problems is chocolate! It makes you instantly happy and if the entire world population Of the world is happy, then the power of the dark is over, the light will conquer.
So chocolate, chocolate, chocolate YES!
Ps: No, I do not have shares in a chocolate producer and I am not making any financial gain from this. The advent calendars I bought are fair trade and 0.99 € each. So it doesn’t cost a fortune to make a school and / or class happy and let them share this happiness.
