Tis the season of giving and receiving. Some enjoy it, some are stressed by it, some get depressed by it and some could care less.

Having raised our children with the celebration of Christmas, come December 1, their big blue eyes have always been on what Santa's going to bring! Their attention was on something they really wanted and were excited about getting. They would talk about it, write about it on their lists, tell their friends and usually, but not always, come December 25th, the gift that had occupied their thoughts for days and weeks had magically appeared next to the tree.

Unfortunately however, the magic of Christmas manifestation can diminish as one grows into adulthood.  No longer can we depend on the spirit of Santa to fill our bank accounts or pay our bills or park a new Harley in the living room. As we mature and leave the visions of sugarplums behind, our minds become clouded with thoughts of less exciting things and we take our eye, our attention, off that which we desire and place the majority of our attention on what we don't want, don't like, worry about, stress about.

Periodically, we as a family take time out from our usual nightly rituals and gather round the fireplace and do a Virtues Pick. It's an awesome practice of placing our attention upon a quality of the heart that we can me more mindful of - we'll draw a card that talks about hope, compassion, detachment and others. We then place the virtue cards on the fridge for the week as a reminder of what to keep our attention on.

I offer this practice as a reminder to use this month of December as a vehicle to revisit your childhood innocence of living from the heart - living from joy and enthusiasm, not stress and feeling alone, or overwhelmed. 

Fix your gaze upon something you really want to have in your life. It can  be a material thing but it can also be greater self-discipline, more clarity about where you want to work, greater communication with a spouse or more self-confidence. Write about it, put it on your Santa list. Get excited about it! Take action towards bringing it into manifestation and then one day, maybe even on Christmas morning, your heart will be filled with the satisfaction that your heart's desire is now before you or even better yet, you now feel it within you.