Can you believe it – that yet another year has gone by?

I’m sure you’ll forgive me asking this, but have you been good this year?

“Define good!” – you might reply? 

Well that’s a very personal definition because each one of us has our own unique view of the world, of how it’s supposed to work, and of how we are supposed to behave in accordance with our own values, beliefs and mission.

Christmas, or whatever you choose to call it, depending on your religious persuasion, is a time of year when, for the majority of people at least, you may wish to re-examine your values and double-check whether you are remaining true to them .

Many people feel that we have lost the true meaning of Christmas and that it’s just become an over-commercialised marketing machine for retailers to bombard us with special offers for us ‘mindless consumers’ to buy way more groceries than we need and to buy presents for people we may not necessarily care about, out of duty or guilt.

Traditionally, Christmas has always been a symbol of peace and goodwill to all people (originally ‘men’, meaning ‘people’ but no longer considered ‘PC’.) Even in the First World War, the opposing sides held a spontaneous cease-fire, aptly demonstrating that it had become part of universal culture.

In today’s modern world, obsessed as it is with political correctness, there are moves afoot to change even the name of Christmas to God knows what! (Oops that was un-PC of me, so sorry – no offence intended). It seems at times that we are so busy trying not to offend anyone’s religious, cultural or philosophical identities that we can no longer remember what our own are supposed to be!

So, why not start with, “Have you been good?”

Ultimately, most of us (adults at least) have a sense of what is generally accepted to be morally right or wrong, though as an NLP trainer, life coach and business coach, I might mention that ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ are simply labels that have no meaning except the meaning we choose to give to them!

Is that all a bit heavy for this time of year?

Maybe, but my point is a simple one…

No matter what you call this holiday season; no matter whether you celebrate it as a religious festival or a consumer-driven frenzy of gift-giving; no matter whether you eat turkey, pork or are strictly vegan; no matter whether you are trying to build walls between countries or trying to tear down the barriers; what if we all simply chose to reflect on how we have behaved towards one another, or even towards ourselves, over the last year?

• What if we all decided to become better versions of ourselves?
• What if we all sought to understand ourselves and our neighbours; friends; customers and even our ‘enemies’ better?
• What if we all sought ‘win-win’ outcomes?

If we all played our small part on this world stage, imagine the applause for that performance!

So, this time next year, if I were to ask you again, “Have you been good?”, would you be deserving of Santa’s best efforts to reward you, or would you at least be able to smile back at the improved person in your bathroom mirror?

May your God go with you and may you have a wonderful and safe holiday season.