The holiday season is upon us. Our pace quickens and our minds take us to places we don’t want to go—feeling hurried and harried. I know there are people who thrive on the fast rhythms of this time of year, and seem to easily navigate all the demands. I just don’t happen to be among them.
Last year I decided to approach the season with a lighter, more open-hearted attitude, and see what would happen. I realized that the first thing I needed to do was get in charge of my busy thoughts. So this is what I did: when I started agonizing over what I had to get done, I said to myself, “Stop.”
Silly as it sounds, I visualized a school crossing guard holding up her stop sign to on-going traffic so positive thoughts had a chance to safely walk across to my anxious mind. This gave me an opportunity to replace my out-of-control list of tasks with things like “I take a deep breath and open to all good things.”
I guess I planted some good seeds because it didn’t take long for something to pop up, in of all places the vortex of seasonal anxiety, the gigantic Walmart in Gallup, New Mexico. Walking with my husband, Tim, into that packed cavernous place one day last December, I’m sure I had a “deer in the headlights” look on my face. All I knew was that I really didn’t want to be there, and I was feeling downright grumpy. I was not even close to the holiday spirit.
Sure enough, nothing went right. I couldn’t find what I was looking for, I was annoyed at the crowds, and soon I was deeply frustrated. As I was wandering down an aisle looking for wrapping paper, an older Navajo woman came up to me and asked if I needed any help. She was a fellow shopper, and she said she knew where things were located.
As she cheerfully ushered me around, she remarked that she had two jobs and going for short periods of shopping worked best for her, so she came to Walmart often. She definitely knew her way around, and we found ourselves laughing and sharing what we were going to do during the holidays as items on my list quickly got checked off.
Tim completed his rounds and joined us, and before she went on her merry way, she gave us each a strong, open-hearted hug, which instantly pulled us out of our task anxiety and opened our hearts. It was a wonderful experience that afternoon, when a small joyful woman blew both our hearts open with a hug.
I often think about that stranger’s smiling kindness, especially now as the holiday season is upon us. It is a gift that gives me joy each time I remember it. This year, rather than a stop sign, I will call up my memory of that woman’s hug, and I know my heart will open, which will help to lighten the people around me.
And when I hug people, I will try to pass on her gift. I will hug with the holiday spirit energy of that wonderful woman at Walmart.
—Lucia Amsden