Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Lessons from Christmas Lights
| Hi Every year my family and I spend a few weeks covering our house and gardens with loads of Christmas lights. I swear that when they are all switched on the load on the whole of Brisbane electricity circuit hits a spike. Last weekend we started our self appointed annual task. And as I was sitting on the lounge testing yet another string of lights for dead bulbs and cursing the task I reflected on what Christmas lights can teach us about life. We start with an idea - a hope - an inspiration and set off with high ideals. We try and enrol people in our vision of the future. But often when we are in the middle of the mammoth task it can seem endless - as if we will never get to the end of it. The tangles can feel impossible to unravel. We can feel that the whole task is pointless and that things would be lots easier if we just hadn't started the whole thing anyway. We can feel unsupported and abandoned by the people we tried to enrol in our vision. We can feel frustrated and angry - lashing out at people around us in our frustration. We can find many dead ends and many things that no longer work and can't be fixed. We can fantasize of how much easier it would be if we could just buy more new things or pay someone else to do it. Many people give up at that stage of the game saying that it was not meant to be. But if you stick with it and hold true to your vision, eventually you will come to the end of the challenge. Eventually you will start to see your vision taking shape. Eventually you will have glimmers of people getting behind your dream and helping convert it to reality. Eventually you will start to see the odd miracle occurring (for me I interpret a strand of lights with no dead bulbs after a year in storage as a miracle!) Once you have all the basics done, you get to finally "switch on" and then enjoy your creation - first by yourself and then a few people come by to admire the view and then a few more and finally busloads of people stop and admire your work. All marvel at your perseverance in your creation and comment they would not have the patience ... But you know that it was just done one step at a time. So why do I do the lights? It started just as a few strands for my kids. Then a few more and a few more. Soon we found that even though we may not see people at the end of the street for the rest of the year, as soon as the lights went up we would meet people in our community as they went for a walk each night to our house to enjoy the lights. For a few brief weeks each year we were part of a bigger community - we could bring joy and happiness to our neighbours as well as ourselves and we could bathe our house in love and awe. We could bring people together to share friendship and common bonds. I even started to market my business to all the passing traffic through cards attached to gifts of lollies for the families and I met some great clients as a result. All of these are pretty great reasons to do the lights! This week I am in the boring stage of creating my vision, but I know in a few weeks it will all be done and the results will be brilliant. So - as you look at a strand of Christmas lights, ask yourself ... what can the lights teach you about how you tackle life? warm regards Ingrid Heart Harmony http://www.heartharmony.com.au/ Labels: Christmas lights, motivation, perserverance |
