The gift of presence

The French philosopher Simone Weil said, “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” 

Generosity is a mainstay of December with the holidays of Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa. Even the solstice and New Year’s Eve may be times of gifting in the form of gatherings and festivities. It’s also a time we recognize the people in our lives who perform daily, weekly or monthly services: the person who brings our mail, cuts our hair, delivers our favorite Thai food or grooms our pup. The gratitude of Thanksgiving in November often moves right into the generosity of December.

Along with the generosity and ebullience of the season often comes other, less welcome feelings: The pressure to feel upbeat and fulfill others’ expectations, economic constraints, loneliness, and the compulsion to wring out every last bit of the year so we can check off tasks and accomplishments we’d set our sights on.

December’s rituals and seasonal themes can throw us off our game – or – we can use this time to set reasonable intentions, connect with inner resources, and show up in our lives and with those we love in ways that benefit all.

Setting mindful intentions

So how might we deliberately and generously bring this perspective to this time of year? How might we balance these two themes: The outward pull of gatherings which can also bring pressures — with space and time to steep in the silence of starlit December nights? To reflect on the year and your relationships? To honor the spirit of the season in ways that nourish others and yourself? 

Maybe Weil’s quote offers an antidote.

In mindfulness practice, we cultivate seeds of awareness, wisdom, gratitude and generosity that are already inside of us. These are human capacities — sometimes dormant, sometimes covered the way clouds cover the sun. But we can know them and grow them: Watering and tending to support our health and well-being.

Setting an intention is a great starting place.

In the practice session this month (recording below!), I invited anyone who wished to put their intentions for our practice time in the chat. Here’s a partial list:

What are your intentions for this season? For your gifting? And even for your receiving? Can you offer something to yourself, perhaps this rare and generous gift of attention? When we are full ourselves, we often discover other gifts inside that can be given abundantly. Gifts like patience, light-heartedness, joy and peace. 

Make time for yourself. Receive the gift of your attention: Rare and precious. Bask in it in ways that delight, whether being in nature, a quiet night by a fire, a restorative movement practice, meditation or quality time with friends and family. 

May the joy, generosity and peace of the season be yours. May your mindfulness practice nourish and sustain you and those you love and all those around you. May you discover that all that you give as you is more than enough for a world that needs each of us and the generosity of our attention: for healing, for thriving and for peace. 

Peace Is This Moment Without Judgment, by Dorothy Hunt

Do you think peace requires an end to war?
Or tigers eating only vegetables?
Does peace require an absence from
your boss, your spouse, yourself?...
Do you think peace will come some other place than here?
Some other time than Now?
In some other heart than yours? 

Peace is this moment without judgment.
That is all. This moment in the Heart-space
where everything that is is welcome.
Peace is this moment without thinking
that it should be some other way,
that you should feel some other thing,
that your life should unfold according to your plans. 

Peace is this moment without judgment,
this moment in the Heart-space where
everything that is, is welcome