As I’m writing this, I have a wonderful, spacey feeling coming into my head.

A lump in my throat.

I think to myself, “I really appreciate my daughter for coughing all over me this weekend. And finally, after fighting it for days, my immune system has said you know what, we’re just going to give you a cold.”

Before my daughter came, I didn’t have a cold for five years. Forgot what they felt like. I am now being reminded, but it’s worth it.

It’s worth it because I appreciate her. I appreciate the lessons she’s taught me. I appreciate the love she’s brought into my life and I appreciate every moment.

Which leads me to share with all of you during this holiday season a mantra that I think is perfect between now and Christmas.

Appreciation.

We seem to spend the last five weeks of the year thinking about the holidays, preparing for the holidays, and then once the holidays are over, think about how we want to craft a new year.

I’ve got a better idea. I don’t want to think about new years mantras, or new year’s resolutions, or any of that crap. We’re going to forget about those anyway.

I want you to spend the holiday time this December thinking about who in your life appreciates you. Who in your life sees you for who you are.

Who sees you for the amazing person that you are. The amazing father or mother that you might be, the amazing brother or sister, or lover, or partner, or friend.

I want you to think about who appreciates you and I want you to only be around people who appreciate you.

If you have people who don’t see you for who you are or appreciate you for who you are in the present moment, they’re not healthy friends.

I’d like you to do a purge, a cleanse.

It’s a holiday wish from me to you.

I want you to cut their energy off in your life.

In order to have a fantastic 2016, you’re going to need people around you who appreciate the beauty of you.

In a world full of Facebook likes and pokes and virtual friends, we can really count our true friends probably on two hands.

I’ve been doing this over the last couple of months. I’ve been going through an appreciation exercise and I’m connecting daily with people in my life who appreciate me.

Taking the time out to call them on the phone. Taking the time out to connect.

I have always found the more I connect with people who are amazing and appreciate me, the clearer my life becomes. The answers to things I’ve been thinking about seem to flow through conversations with friends.

Friends are loving, supportive, non-judgmental people.

I’ve been thinking to myself, “I’ve done a lot of inner healing. I’m really starting to enjoy myself again and I’m doing that because I’m only connecting with people who appreciate me for who I am.” appreciation

People who see me for who I am in this present moment. People who have let go of whatever past issues we may have had and people who want to grow and support each other in friendship and love and everything else.

So, this holiday season, instead of looking for the perfect gift to give somebody, I want you to give people the gift of yourself.

Now don’t get me wrong, a red Mercedes is always beautiful in the driveway. Or a Lexus with a big bow on it is great.

But this holiday season, I want you to give people the gift of yourself. I want you to tell them that they are part of a small group of people who really get you.

You appreciate them and you appreciate their friendship. You appreciate who they are and what they mean in your life.

The holiday time is not about going shopping to Toys R Us or going to the Mercedes Benz dealer or going to the jeweler to get diamonds.

We’ve become so commercialized as a society, but the real meaning of the holiday season comes from the gift of giving yourself to others.

That’s what makes the holidays so beautiful.

It’s the gift of giving yourself to the people who appreciate you so you can grow and blossom and connect more deeply with all the amazing people in your life.

That is my holiday intent for all of you.

So, as I tell people what I’m going to do for the 12 days of Christmas, I’m going to turn it into the 31 days of December.

I’m going to tell everybody in my life that I appreciate them. I’m going to nurture my relationships and I’m going to put together my group.

My group of supportive, loving friends and family who I can trust to lean on during this new year.

And I appreciate all of you for listening.