Iwanted to take a moment and wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year! Two thoughts come to my mind during this holiday season.
One, for some reason, the holiday season seems to make us “more human.” It’s like jet fuel to the limbic system. Emotions (positive and negative) and connectedness (and disconnectedness) are felt more profoundly and magnified during the holidays. During this time, we reminisce, and many of us yearn for a past that we correctly, or incorrectly, remember as a Norman Rockwell painting. A childhood that was blessed with Christmas mornings spent amongst mountains of ripped wrapping paper. There is a strong magnet-pull to be with a family, huddle, and take energy from the tribe.
Just as easily, less positive emotions, like loneliness or despair, can be triggered during the holidays, as some of us feel the pressures of living up to the unreachable Norman Rockwell images of family, togetherness, and joy. Bickering, pettiness, exhaustion, tension can be felt in the air.
My second thought about this special holiday season is that just as quickly as the emotions swirl up during the holiday season, they seem to quickly dissipate as soon as the holiday trappings our boxed up and stowed away for next year. How nice it would be to find ways to remind us, throughout the year, to tap into the holiday cheer, by knowing and feeling that we are all connected, all interdependent upon each other, and that no woman/man is an island.
My hope for all of us is to remember that families come in all shapes and sizes. Not just those defined by DNA and bloodline, but those that are formed at work, at church, through athletics or working out, AA, and other gatherings of friends that turn into families.
The bonds that connect us, whether over thousands of miles, or across the street, are strong and offer incredible strength, hope, and experience when you need it most.
Now, and throughout 2020, your family at the Herman Legal Group wishes you peace and joy, regardless of whether your family memories are reminiscent of Norman Rockwell, or the Adams Family.
Peace and Joy.
Richard
