A Holiday Recipe for Personal Transformation - a podcast by Simon Drew

Website: simonjedrew.com

For as long as I can remember, I have really loved the Christmas season. Of course, having grown up as a Latter Day Saint in a Christian society, and having parents who have made their entire living in Christmas decorations, it seems only natural that I would have a certain affinity for this holiday. But even more broadly than just Christmas, the final months of each year and the traditions that take place always bring moments of reflection, inspiration and renewal - something that we could all use after a year like this. 

During my own personal reflection over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about the opportunities for personal growth that lie within three specific traditional holidays of this time of year, namely Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve. These three traditions, in my view, offer far more than an opportunity to gather with friends and family, which is incredibly important in its own right. Rather, it seems to me that by looking at them as a cohesive progression we can tap into one of the greatest cycles of personal transformation available to us. 

First, let’s look at Thanksgiving. If we can view this holiday from the perspective of what it is supposed to instill within us, then it’s clear that an attitude of gratitude is number one on the list. Thanksgiving should be a time of personal reflection about all that we have to be thankful for. We should take stock of our blessings and gifts, and we should spend time with those people who mean something to us. We should think of the friends, family, and ancestors who paved the way before us, and we should remind ourselves that no matter how challenging life can get, there are always things to be grateful for. Nothing to my knowledge is more necessary for personal growth than to be reminded of this fact. The grateful heart at the same time shows humility, respect for life, and a willingness to press forward with a cheerful disposition. Comparatively, the ungrateful heart shows egotism, arrogance, and resentment towards life's challenges. This is not the same thing as saying that people don’t go through dark times in their lives or that we have no reason for sadness, but it is fair to suggest that even dark times can be made lighter by shining the torch of gratitude. This is why I believe that it is truly brilliant that the holiday season begins, at least in the United States, with Thanksgiving. How else would you want to begin the winding down of the year than to pause and to be grateful? 

Then we move through to Christmas - the celebration of the birth of the person who could accurately be described as the Sage of Western culture - Jesus Christ. He’s the archetypal hero in our culture - the man of humble birth who became a master of tradition, bore the weight of his terrible burdon, and died a noble death. Whether or not you celebrate Christmas in this traditional form by meditating on the life of Jesus, it appears to me that there lies a real opportunity for us all to at least reflect on the Sage at this time of year. What are the characteristics of the best possible human that you can be? Who is the hero you think of when you need inspiration? Which ruler will you measure your own life against? What is your own personal ideal? Close to the beginning of a new year, Christmas is the ideal time to imagine all the ways that you could be a better citizen of this cosmos. And always remember that meditating on the ideal path is not only necessary for personal change - it’s fundamental, simply due to the fact that if you’d like to be a better person, then you first need to at least define what “better” would mean.

Finally we arrive at New Years Eve and New Years Day. This is the phoenix of all the holidays. Arising from the ashes of the now dead year, we are reborn into a new year with new priorities, new goals, and a renewed sense of exc

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