With the world in disarray and families struggling to keep body and soul together, this may be the best time of the year to clean up the wreckage of past disputes with mom and dad, siblings or with your own spouse and children. Prove that family matters. My suggestion is to sit down and write a forgiveness greeting card to all of those family and friends with whom you have had disagreements. Some of these sore spots are decades old and some happened the day-before-yesterday. The important thing is to end the year on better footing with those you love and ring in the New Year with amicability.
In my own family tree there have been slights that festered into major skirmishes and, after the passage of time, both sides forgot what caused the split. Ego and false pride were the battlegrounds upon which enmity blazed out of control.
I once had a real brouhaha one Christmas with my mother. She was sober but I was soused and ready for a huge fight. Once the screaming with threats was over it took a long time to restore our relationship. But I did it with a Hallmark card on the next Mother’s Day. When she died twenty years later, we were close friends who loved one another in spite of our differences.
Why not give the gift someone special to you will never forget. Send a loved one with whom you’ve had a rift a special I love you Holiday card. It will be a real Christmas to remember.
Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com.
Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://tinyurl.com/5gycfm.
