Consider Love in a Box This Holiday Season
I wanted to share a simple, meaningful, inexpensive gift idea that emerged from a discussion I had with a client about making a self-care box for themselves. It began when I shared what I had read about a unique exercise in a classroom. Children were acting up so a teacher had each child write one positive thing about each of the other children in the classroom and made them into a list for each child. The children were then given the list with all the positive qualities about themselves written on it. Years later, as adults, many of the now adults reported still having their list, and one person even carried it in her wallet with her.
My client took that idea and asked her family to do that project with her. She told me how they bought art boxes for each family member and are going to write positive qualities about each other and put it in their boxes. I wanted to share this because I thought that this is a beautiful project to do with loved ones over the holidays. Whether with a family or between friends, sharing the beautiful strengths, unique gifts and qualities that you see in a loved one, is a gift that can last for many years. So often, we see the amazing, admirable qualities in our loved ones, but we don’t always express those to them, especially with the people closest to us. Just imagine what it would mean, when our loved ones are having a hard day, and likely beating up on themselves, to be able to pull out a box or card with positive affirmations of love and acceptance and be reminded of how they are loved. This can be especially significant for children who often do not verbalize to adults when they are feeling lonely, rejected or ashamed.
If you are interested in doing this, here are a few ideas:
- get a box (the dollar store has boxes and art supplies) and consider decorating it
- include cards in the box with positive qualities about the person, reasons why you love them, or special memories that you have had together
- include special pictures
- include poems or quotes or song lyrics that you know would inspire them
- if you are doing it as a family, consider each person contributing items to everyone else’s boxes and then having someone put each box together and then each person gets to unwrap their own box on the holiday morning
- include only things that you know will lift someone’s spirits, make them feel better about themselves, or make them laugh or smile
- sometimes it is hard to think of positive qualities so here’s a link to a list of positive qualities.
Wishing you a wonderful holiday filled with peace, love, and laughter.
