Meditation on the Holiday Gift of Giving Kindness Without Borders & Hugs Without Exceptions

There I was the other day, minding my own business cleaning the house while listening to my iPod and singing … when tears burst forth.  A mixture of deep grief, hope, sorrow, and joy flung the gates to my waterworks wide open.  The culprit was James Blunt and his song “Someone Singing Along”.  In this beautiful song he points out how division, greed, racism, stigmatism, violence, polarization, and legalism are sadly rampant and encouraged in our world, affecting everything from families to nations.  Equal parts lament and kumbaya, James’ anthem invites us to raise our voices and come together.  In my mind and words, it’s a call to unity, kindness, inclusion, freedom, and above all love.

This holiday season I’ve heard multiple stories of exclusion and shame WITHIN families, and there are no words to describe the resultant hurt and ache in my heart.  While I’d like to rant and rage against these hurts and harm, I’m going to try a different tactic.  The path to heaven, enlightenment, bliss, happiness, or whatever you’d name your deepest desire for goodness and an amazing existence is a Love that’s blind, a Kindness without borders, and a Hug without exceptions.

I think in the end life is pretty simple.  When we freely give ourselves to cultivate thriving and flourishing for anyone and everyone, we’ll find we’re already in heaven and bliss will abound in our our spirits.  So, this holiday season I invite us to practice giving the gift of kindness without borders and hugs without exception.