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The Gift of Being Present
3 Actionable Tips to be Present this Christmas
Wisdom Made Easy
December 23, 2023
I want to start this week’s newsletter with a timeless quote:
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift… that’s why they call it the present!”
- Master Oogway
Despite this quote coming from a fictional animated character, there’s an important lesson here.
Your time here is precious.
Life will pass you by if you’re not intentional about how you spend your time.
You’ll remember this from a newsletter that I shared earlier this month.
In the next few days, you may have the opportunity to have some quality time celebrating with loved ones.
Here are 3 tips to be more present over the coming days to make the most of this special time:
🎁 Prepare To Be Present
As you read this, I’ll be landing in Austria to celebrate the birth of Jesus with my wife’s side of the family.
But as I type this, it’s actually the week before!
The first tip is to do whatever you need now so that you have the freedom to be present later.
At the time of publishing this, you still have a couple of days to ensure you’re truly present on Christmas day.
What can you do today to guarantee your loved ones are treated to your undivided attention tomorrow?
In case you missed it, last week I released The Wise Annual Review - 8 simple activities to extract the wisdom from this year and excel next year.
You can download it for FREE here:
🎁 Sacrifice To Be Present
You won’t be able to do everything before Christmas Day.
Say this with me:
That is okay.
Taking a day or a week off won’t ruin everything that you’ve achieved this year.
Don’t believe me?
Check out this visual. 👇
Sacrifice a few days’ progress and be present.
Those unread emails in your inbox aren’t going anywhere
The unorganised boxes in your garage will still be there when you get back
You can do the gardening in a few days’ time
Make a few small sacrifices to be truly present this week.
🎁 Re-Prioritise To Be Present
You might not want to read this one…
You might need to re-prioritise to be present this Christmas.
No matter who you are, I am sure that you have put things before your loved ones at some point of your life.
It could have been for a couple of hours, a whole day, or perhaps much, much longer.
Whatever the amount of time, you may regret it nowadays.
Don’t worry if you do - you wouldn’t be alone.
Bronnie Ware, author of The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying found that a common regret for those in their final stages of life was “I wish I didn’t work so hard.”
In fact, every male patient that Bronnie supported as a palliative carer voiced this regret.
They shared that they missed the company of their partners and children as they stayed late to work.
If you’re contemplating working extra this Christmas, consider whether you’ll regret it unless you re-prioritise.
✍️ Journal Prompts
• Do you need to prepare, sacrifice or re-prioritise to be present this week?
• What else could you do to ensure you’re present this week?
• Who do you want to be present for?
Consider journaling through the above questions yourself.
👍 Recommendations
Here are couple of things that I think will complement this week’s newsletter and will help you to get wiser:
1️⃣ The first recommendation is to check out the aforementioned book: The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying.
You can learn more about Bronnie Ware by listening to her talk to Fearne Cotton’s on Happy Place podcast here.
And to purchase the book and learn of the other 4 top regret, purchase your copy here:
2️⃣ The second recommendation for this week is to download The Wise Annual Review!
Join 400+ people that have downloaded these 8 simple activities to extract wisdom from 2023 to ensure they succeed in 2024.
Download it for FREE here:
* Please note that these may be affiliate links. Purchasing through these links could support Wisdom Made Easy encourage more people to get wiser.
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😊 Thank You!
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Catch you in the next issue!
Thanks,
Michael
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