Just Give Love to All

It's weird/funny/expected that I'm coordinating my most recent facebook status with this blog...Right now, love languages are on my mind. Never heard of the 5 love languages, you say? Well, the idea is that we all speak one love language more "fluently" than the others; in other words, we are able to most effectively give-- and RECEIVE-- compassion, affection and interaction in one specific way. This is interesting because we assume that we are giving everything we've got to certain people and relationships, but in reality, the kind gestures aren't always having the effect we want them to have because the other person has another love language. Similarly, we don't think the other party (or parties) are as "into" creating solid friendships or relationships because we aren't making ourselves aware of/open to the love they are offering to us in their OWN love language. Get it?

The five love languages are (drumroll, please): touch, acts of service, quality time, giving/receiving gifts, and words of affirmation.

i'm interested to see what you loyal readers (are there any of those left these days?) think mine is. I can reveal it in my next post (oooooh). And I'd love for you to figure out what yours is, too!

I'm not really sure why I'm sharing this right now. I just felt compelled to. I think that any obligatory gift-giving season makes me think about how we uphold (or lose sight of) certain people and relationships in our lives year round. Why do we need a holiday like Christmas or a birthday to feel comfortable expressing love toward one another?

I feel like I end up sharing this every year, but one of my favorite holiday tunes is called "The Secret of Christmas." I only know the Shedaisy version (I'm not sure if they're the original performers or if they're just spreading the good word) but I think it serves as a great reminder that Christmas is only special if the months surrounding it contain the same joy and generosity to all.

Yeah the little gift you send on Christmas day
Will not bring back the friend you turned away
So may I suggest the secret of Christmas--
It's not the things you do at Christmas time,
But the Christmas things you all year through.

Hope everyone's day was full of gratitude and simple joys.