Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a story about living. A wonderful theme for the Christmas season but Dickens tells us also a lesson about life that should be practiced year round. It’s a ghostly tale but few things exist of this world that would cause Scrooge to become inspired enough to make necessary changes in his life. The miracle awakening that Ebenezer is forced through on the night of Christmas Eve is a journey that we all should want to take. While hauntings of this nature are quite rare we can walk ourselves through the steps and become awakened along the path.
It isn’t difficult for us to really do what the ghosts of Christmas did for Scrooge. We only have to take a look at our past, present, and future and assess for ourselves the current status of our lives. This can be done in quiet meditation or time spent alone in reflection. Just like the fateful night from Dickens’ novel take each of the following reflections or meditations one at a time, allowing the impact of each to reach you at your core. Awaken to your inner truth and let it sink in before progressing forward, grow with it and let the miracle envelope you.
Reach back.
It’s important to remember our childhood and think about what living was like back then. It was a simpler age, no doubt. As children, our minds were only concerned with adventures, pretend, Saturday morning cartoons, candy, toys and our best friends. You never woke up anxious about Mondays or meetings or overdue bills, or unfulfilled dreams. Living was immediate. The future held promise of a golden tomorrow, and the past wasn’t important. What is important is remembering what being a child was like. Blanketed by the innocence of just living life simply without the complications we’ve added throughout the years since. Regain the gleam of childlike fascination with the world around you. It’s truly priceless.
We can get that back, because it’s all a matter of how we perceive things. At some point in our lives we grow up and lost our sense of wonder with the world. There was fascination with our environment and a belief in the unseen when believing meant seeing. We’ve become jaded to that magical world that’s all around us, when we were cops and robbers, princesses and knights, and hide and go seekers. Children approach life with an energy and creativity that breathes potential into every situation. That energy is what you need to enrich your life and help you make decisions concerning your happiness.
Play games and make believe to regain that imaginative eye of a child. You didn’t lose it, you just haven’t used it. It needs to be taken out and dusted off. Don’t grow up. Look at your life through childhood eyes then evaluate your happiness. It’s the simple things that bring the most joy. Reexamine your priorities. Forget about stressing the “what if’s” or “what might have been’s”. Kids don’t dwell on those things, they move past them.
Be Present.
Awareness of the state of others around you is a gift in and of itself. Ol’ Scroogey was miserable and projected his misery at others around him. He thought of generosity and charity as weakness and only valued hard work and money. The old miser was despised not only for his hard-nosed business practices but his cold nature. Sympathetic to no one’s feelings or situations, Ebenezer pushed all relationships away.
Egotism is an easy road to walk and one that you will find yourself alone on if you go too far. You cannot judge your own life’s value by possessions and achievements. The only measure is the love for those around you and the love they have for you. The most beautiful mindset to live by is (that you can never take anything with you) you can only give. Everything in the world is only borrowed while you are here and one day you leave it behind. Generosities of love and attention, gratitude and friendship are the most important gifts to give at Christmastime and all year round.
Take an assessment of all those you have contact with daily. Let your thoughts settle on the relationships you have. How could you improve them? Can you provide more value? It can prove to be overwhelming trying to change the world. It’s more effective to improve the lives of others you know. What would make them better and stronger? How could you do something everyday that could benefit a complete stranger? The value you are looking for is to leave something better than you found it.
Altruism is a habit best developed when practiced daily. Give generously, love deeply, smile often and do more than the minimum.
Die While You’re Alive
By far, the most terrifying portion of Dickens’ tale is Scrooge’s stint with the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, a mysterious black robed phantom that looks like the Grim Reaper. This ghost shows Scrooge images of his pending future should he not learn to change his ways. The most striking of these visions are the details and reactions of others surrounding his death. He’s afforded a wondrous opportunity to die while he’s still alive. You can experience this too.
It’s inevitable that eventually we’re all going to die. So why not envision it in advance? Experience it, dream it, play it out in your mind. Write your own eulogy, script your funeral, even plan for it. The goal is to see that every moment is precious because it’s one less that remains in this lifetime. You should be spending those precious moments making your life magical. Don’t stress for, don’t get anxious or envious for anything because it’s all temporary. What matter’s most is the love and friendships you have in your life. Give and support others and let happiness flow within and through you always.
It’s important to take a look at your present circumstances through the eyes of what will happen as your life plays out to the end. Do you like what you see? If not then you can change it. That’s the gift. Your ability to be a living Christmas miracle is in recognizing the importance of living fully, because life doesn’t last forever and the impacts you make will mark your legacy when you are gone.
Dickens’ put a life lesson in this tale of Christmas and the impact of such has gone on to create one of the most well recognized Christmas stories throughout history. It’s spiritual and resonates with us. Reminding us no matter how long it’s been and how far we’ve strayed, we can turn it all around any time we still have a breath in our lungs and love in our hearts. I want to leave you with these words from A Christmas Carol, as Scrooge awakens to the reality of his mistakes.
"I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope!...I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach”
