`Tis the Season

The nice part about the end of December is that everyone seems to be in alignment with the refrain from the song referred to in the title.  Everyone seems a little more upbeat, a little happier.  The school children are excited about their time away from school and the parents are excited about their upcoming vacation / family time.  When we go out to eat, we tend to be more generous with our tips and when we pass someone asking for money on a city corner, we tend to be more open to help them.  Good spirits (not the alcoholic kind) seem to be in abundance, kindness the order of the day and everyone has gratitude to spare.

Talking to a friend recently, we both noted that this time of the year, people are generally happy, then in 2 weeks they go back to their grumpy old selves.  It is almost as if we believe, regardless of our religious affiliation, in the verse, “…he knows if you’ve been naughty or nice…”  The same attitudes exist in the work place around job review time.  We tend to be extra nice in the weeks leading up to this time, work a little longer and put in a little extra effort to show we are “worthy” of a good review, a salary increase and a bonus.  When we do not get what we expected, we become grumpy, place blame on others for the situation we find ourselves in and the following year, begin the cycle over again.  We completely wipe out 11 months of mediocre (or sub-mediocre) activities and assume that the one month is all that counts.  The amazing thing is that we convince ourselves that this is true, and that it must be true to the people that we surround ourselves with.

After the first of the year, we should all make the extra effort to continue the attitude that we carry around with us in the month of December.  By taking this action, we not only infect ourselves positively, but we have the opportunity to infect a positive attitude upon the people we see and talk to on a daily basis.  Every morning, when people ask me “How are you?”, I almost always respond in a cheerful voice, “Wonderful!”  One day, where I work, one of the ladies stopped me and told me that my response makes her feel better about the day ahead since I am always so happy.  In the words of Jim Rohn, “Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.”  Continue to spread a little bit of your holiday cheer throughout the year and watch the impact on the people around you, as begin to reflect your positive attitude back.

Hope you all have a great holiday and enjoy the time spent with your family and friends. 

Please feel free to leave any comments below.