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From the day we are born,
we have good days and we have bad days,
from the first tear that we cry,
we shed tears of sadness and tears of joy,
from the first time that we are put to bed by our parents
and we fall asleep,
everything is new, everything is a daze,
from the first thing that we hold tightly in our hands-
whether it be someone’s finger, or a toy-
we all become attached,
we are all matched,
we all discover something important,
we are all running a race from the front,
and we are all setting our own pace
that will always be different.
We are all born with one special and important gift from day one;
we are all children of the Earth, the moon, and the sun;
we are all born with the gift of our life,
whatever that consists of, and whatever it will grow to become;
we are all brothers, sisters, daughters, and sons.
Every new day can be, should be, will be,
more beautiful than the last as long as you remember
that you are not alone and will never be alone;
every new phase that comes to pass
is the start of a brand new cycle that always takes you
where you need to go and then returns you home.
We all speak more languages than one or many we are knowingly taught,
but those communicative methods are those that are instinctive
and silently spoken, and not recognised
unless you are perhaps scrutinised by a psychotherapist,
or a body-language expert.
Sunny days are the best;
cloudy days are the days when we think and rest;
hot summer days make us all feel energised and great;
cold winter days make us all want to wrap ourselves up tight.
No matter what you do, live every day.
No matter what is happening to you,
or what you are going through,
don’t ever allow yourself to be shackled-
promise yourself to always act and be free.
No matter what time it is, or who you are with,
it always matters what you say.
No matter if things don’t always go as you planned,
just take a breath, go forward,
and say under your breath,
or outloud so everyone can hear,
in your best french accent:
‘c’est la vie’.
Everybody wants that special person in their life
who they can turn to, and talk to, and look to,
and listen to, whenever they need someone;
every one of us wants to fall asleep
thinking about something that that special person in our life
did for us that made us happy, and always makes us happy-
just the sight of their eyes looking back at us,
or a message from them that may be inaudible to anyone else
who read it resounds and echoes loud and clear
in the cavenous expanses of our mind,
and drives the current of our inner river,
and produces rainbows in the waterfall of our imagination.
That special someone can be all that you need to
make you want to wake up, live, and go to sleep,
feeling incredible, and like you too, for knowing them,
are special.
Love is easy.
Love is the best thing ever-
when the place is perfect, and the time is right.
Love should feel easy,
love shouldn’t ever feel a struggle-
when real love comes calling and you recognise its face at first sight,
even though you may have not seen it before,
or if you have not for a long time.
Love is unquestionable.
Love is the best, the most potent, and the most life-changing drug,
and you can express love in so many ways-
deeply, intimately, eternally, beautifully, simply,
sometimes with just a stare, a touch, a word, a kiss,
a gift of belonging, connection, togetherness-
from a boyfriend to a girlfriend,
from a wife to a husband,
from a friend to a best friend-
in the way of a hug.
Gifts of affection come in many forms-
sometimes out of the blue,
like a surprise trip somewhere for two,
a reminder that someone loves you
and was thinking about you,
and they saw something while they weren’t with you
but as soon as they saw what they saw
they knew it would be the perfect present for you.
Two people who are in love
but don’t always say it to each other,
but who try to show it every day-
and not just on Valentine’s Day-
know that as long as they have each other,
as long as they have what no one could ever take
or replace, which they know is never going anywhere-
those two people, even though they may be apart sometimes
will always know that they will forever have
a vital piece of one another in their heart,
and that knowledge and that truth and that feeling
is hidden in plain sight for them to see, recognise,
and find.
You can feel and find love five seconds after meeting someone.
You can know you have found the one person who you want
to spend the rest of you life with the instant you feel their pull,
and their force of attraction becomes more powerful
and important than gravity,
and when you look at them and every time you do
you are in-awe iof them and stunned.
You can see someone over and over again everyday,
but the time for your two hearts and lives to combine
might not ne instantaneous and may come gradually
the more you learn about each other,
and the more you see in them what you have been searching for,
and what you have always wanted;
something that can make you do something amazing
that you would never do for anyone else
and have never done before for anyone else-
like buying someone a bouquet of flowers,
writing someone a letter,
telling someone a secret,
showing someone something that means something to you
for some reason that is personal and meaningful to you.
When I want to say something, or do something special
for my special someone, I like to do it with all my heart,
and I put eveything into it, and I like to leave
and give a part of me to someone in every word
and in every rhyme and message of my poetry-
and I like to play my own song,
I like to create my own music,
I like to send my voice into and over the air
for the one I love, and for the one who loves me
to find and to hear, and feel me and what I want them to feel,
and I want them to think of me whenever they hear my melody,
whenever they hear their melody,
whenever they hear our melody.
There is no more powerful light in the dark;
there is no more powerful and beautiful beacon of hope and happiness;
there is no more powerful feeling that you feel beating every second in your heart;
there is no more powerful reaction than sitting back
and marveling at the gift that you wait all year for-
the gift of family, the gift of belonging, the gift of dreams-
covered in flashing lights and tinsel, and festive ornaments,
around your tree of Christmas.
The Christmas tree is an amazing legacy;
the Christmas tree is a symbol of love and family;
the Christmas tree is the most wonderful story of an entire year;
the Christmas tree is the most inspiring and colorful,
phenomenal and emotional experience for some,
because it is something that so many people
have a hand in making it what it is,
and it can be enough to bring you to tears.
Whether it is getting the Christmas tree from the attic
that your family have had and have used
and will continue to use for years to come,
or the fantastic and amazing ritual of actually going
to a Christmas tree farm and picking a real, green,
and still growing pine tree-
everything that comes with the finding and the choosing of the one tree,
the favourite tree, the right tree, is the best and the most exciting ceremony
and custom, and it will continue to be as it has been
since the tradition of the Christmas tree began.
The feeling of a real, freshly-cut, Christmas tree is amazing.
The smell of a real, pine, Christmas tree is so intoxicating.
The sight of a real Christmas tree forest is something you never forget,
and the thought of it takes you back to when you were a child.
The idea and the understanding of what Christmas, family,
life, is all about and why it is important to remember as much as you can
about every moment can be found and felt in the seed that still remains
at the heart of every real Christmas tree.
The decorating of the tree is something that can be enjoyed and made real,
and can be the actual time and moment when Christmas begins-
when a family gathers together and unpacks all the decorations
that they have been saving to use for a whole twelve months-
it can be the cue and the first note that makes your
festive and hopeful heart sing.
For children, it is something that they will always remember
and look forward to all their lives, and it will forever
bring back happy memories for them, and remind them of the real meaning
and importance of why we do what we do;
for adults, the Christmas tree- everything about it-
can be just what they need to give them back something
they may have forgotten, and which they have been missing;
for everyone, Christmas, and a Christmas tree especially,
can be more and can mean more,
and can only feel the way that it does at this time of the year,
and it can be a way of looking forward and looking back in synchronicity,
feeling a part of something already existing,
and also of something brand new.
For the lucky ones who have the real Christmas present every day,
all year round, of having a family around them who they love
and who loves them in return, Christmas can be exhilarating,
invigorating, thrilling, and the most wonderful blessing.
This time of the year means a lot to me.
To me, Christmas is more than a season of gifts and presents
and buying the most, it is about giving and receiving a part of yourself,
a part of someone who means a lot to you, who you love,
and care about unconditionally.
This time of the year means keeping everyone as close to you
as they can possibly be.
To me, Christmas is about coming together
and gathering around what we all share,
and there is no greater thing to assemble around
than a beautiful, and breathtaking, Christmas tree.
Since I was a small boy, I have always loved surprises.
Since I was old enough to recognise, remember, and understand,
why birthdays, Christmas, and special occasions were important
to celebrate and share,
the not knowing of what gift I will receive and from whom,
and the not knowing of what is going to happen next,
even now, as I turn 32 years old, still makes me feel excited.
Everyday I receive amazing gifts from my family,
everyday I am blessed with the phenomenal presence of my friends,
everyday someone I have never met will inspire me
to think of something that I have never thought of before-
something important that may one day save me.
Everyday Earth feels like a brand new world, constantly evolving,
and humantiy breaths in and breaths out new creations
and drives itself forward,
while maintaining what makes them who they are-
cherishing and nourishing new life,
while at the same time harbouring the means and the will
to start a ticking clock towards the end.
Life is full of surprises.
Being in the dark about something makes the reveal
and the revelation of a secret feel incredible-
so much so that it can completely overwhelm you,
raise your heart-rate, flood your thoughts,
irrevocably effect how you feel in the future,
and make the universe seem fantastic and magical,
like it always felt to you when you were a child.
A kiss on the cheek,
a hand-shake from someone who you haven’t seen in a while,
a message or a phonecall from someone out of the blue,
can be the best thing that has happened to you all week,
the thing that you think about that always makes you smile-
what you don’t expect to happen is nearly always
what makes you feel more and dazzles you
like seeing your favourite view.
We learn so much about ourselves by observing others;
we prepare for what is to come by reliving our experiences in the past;
we learn over time what is meant to be shared straight-away,
and what should be kept undercover;
we prepare ourselves for what happens in our lives as best as we can,
but, ultimately, the answers that we crave
cannot be known without first living outside of the reality
in which we feel the most secure and comfortable,
and by asking the questions that we have always been afraid to ask.
We can’t control who we fall in love with;
we can’t surpress what makes us laugh;
wa can’t let go of our personal superstitions
and our unique fascination of certain myths;
we can’t be good or bad, on the light-side or the dark,
we can only just be who we are-
all shades, all colours, all sides;
just like Earth, or outer-space, or the universe-
you can’t split someone in-half.
The most important thing to remember
about anything that happens in life
is that unpredictability and uncertainty
are the roads and the highways
that we travel down everyday of our lives;
and no matter how fully-formed a thought
about something is in your head
the end result may differ drastically,
and you will be diverted down a route without a map,
through a labyrinth of left and right turns and dead-ends,
before you reach where you are going-
all you can do is make the choices that feel right
at the time that you are making them, don’t fight change,
embrace and learn from what you don’t understand instead.
Living a life to its fullest can be risky,
but if you are very lucky, along the way,
you will see things that others could never imagine,
you will go places so beautiful,
you will meet so many extraordinary people,
you will make great discoveries,
you will win prizes.
The more you live, the more you realize that the universe
and nature, as a whole, isn’t driven by facts and knowledge,
or about measurements, or sizes;
the universe and nature,
no matter what we think we know about it and its nature,
is still full of surprises.
Christmas Day is the pinnacle of my year;
Christmas Day is the day when I give gifts of my affection and love
to my family and friends-
something that I try to do every day of the year;
however, Christmas Day is special, Christmas Day is the day
when I get the opportunity to look my family in the eye
and give them all my time, attention,
and see their faces light-up
when they see the thought that I have taken in my preparation-
and the greatest gift that they could give me in return
is the overwhelming feeling of belonging, meaning, and love-
that is what drowns me in the atmosphere of the day,
that is what brings me to tears.
I am fortunate to have, to know,
and to appreciate, what I have in my life.
I have not always fully-understood
why the connections that we make
with a select group of people are so powerful;
but as I get older, and the more that I see of the world,
and the more that I understand our universe’s inner-workings,
the reality of truth that rules everything
cuts through the banality of our false-inventions like a knife.
Family is so much more than blood;
identity is so much more than a name;
our words and our intentions can sometimes be misunderstood,
but if something and someone means something to us
you have to share and express why-
it is not always an instant revelation,
most of the time it builds-up within us
until it is the right time for it to be expressed,
for reasons that we can’t always explain.
There are communities that live in parts of the world
in which their inter-dependency on each-other is their world,
it is all that matters to them:
families who have the respect, the strength,
and a connection to one-another-
and that to them is more than enough;
and I envy them, because every one of them knows the truth,
because, for them, life is about embracing what you have,
embracing every opportunity;
life is about what sustains and remains after we are all gone-
not the throw-away, trivial, material, stuff.
So, at Christmas dinner with my family, on a cold 25th of December,
as I enjoy the food, the company, the gifts that I have been blessed with-
and as I bask in the glow of the day
embodied in the dancing flames of the fire and in its embers-
I will take-in every moment with my eyes, my nose,
my finger-tips, and with my ears;
I will raise-up my glass in cheer
thinking about everyone who means something to me, and why;
and to everyone, everywhere, I will wish a very Merry Christmas,
and an amazing, and a Happy New Year!