For the fortunate —and we wish all of you good fortune beyond measure —the holiday season is the most loving time of year. 

Our hearts open up to the free flow of kindness, affection, compassion, forgiveness … all the virtues that ennoble us as a species. If we’re lucky (and we realize that not all people are), we live at year’s end filled with hope, filled with love, filled with power for doing good. We live the way we were intended to live.

Then comes January.

The holiday lights come down. On the street, we walk past dried-out Christmas trees and orphaned strands of tinsel.  And when the discarded props of the season disappear from view, our loving, gentle nature so often disappears with them.

But we believe it doesn’t have to be that way. So here are four ways to keep your holiday spirit alive long after the snows have melted, through the dog days of summer, until the leaves begin to turn again, and the loving spirit of the holidays visits our desperately needy world anew year’s end filled with hope, filled with love, filled with power for doing good. We live the way we were intended to live.

1.)    Keep on Wrapping:

Who says Christmas shopping has to happen in the weeks (or hours) before Christmas? Give “out of the blue” gifts to people you love at any time of year! Surprise your Little Leaguer with a new mitt for Opening Day. Give your parents a weekend at a lovely B&B. Give your spouse or lover … what? … hey, you know them better that we do!

2.)    The Card from Left Field:

Never go to the mall without buying at least ONE beautiful, blank greeting card. Receiving a card in the mail makes it seem extra special. Send it to someone dear, inscribed with a loving message, straight from the heart.

3.)    Do Unto Others:

The message comes through loud and clear around the holidays: Help the needy. Look after those less fortunate. Many of us do, volunteering to serve holiday meals at a soup kitchen, or donating money to worthy causes. But why stop on New Year’s Day? Stay involved in volunteer work year-round! And donate monthly, as generously as you can, to charities that touch your heart. Each time you finish work at your volunteer “job” … each time you mail a check to sponsor a needy orphan in a far-off land … you’ll have your own reward: The holiday spirit, burning bright once again, warming your heart, lighting the darkest corners of our common world.

4.)    Say A Few Words to Love Itself:

Some call it God. Some have no name for it. But if you acknowledge love as something real and true—a changer of lives, a reviver of broken hearts, a force with more ultimate power than all the weapons of the world combined—then daily say a few words to Love itself, no matter the name you know it by. Thank it for the good things you have. Ask it to embed itself in your heart … and never to leave. Ask it to guide you always in your relationships with those you meet upon your journey. Ask it to give you hope. This, in the end, is what the holidays are all about: Hope. Always seek out hope. Always nurture it. Always keep its flame alive.

Source: Beliefnet.com