The Best Gift Ever

 

Tom and Jerry

One of the best Christmas presents I ever got was a Tom and Jerry puppet. My Tom and Jerry puppet looked exactly like the cartoon characters. Tom had a blue head made of rubber. His body was blue corduroy fabric with a white oval belly. My hands fit in the puppet’s body. I put my thumb and baby finger in the arms. Jerry, also rubber, fit on a tab that was connected to one of Tom’s hands.

The puppet talked! I would pull the cord and it would repeat pre-recorded phrases. Tom would say “Jerry, I’ll catch you yet!” Jerry responded, “Who me?”

I loved that puppet so much that I slept with it. Tom and Jerry traveled with me to church, to my grandparents, and to my cousins. I took it outside and showed it to my friends. After many years, my family tried to convince me to throw it out. At some point, Jerry’s tab broke off. He no longer clung to Tom’s hand. The cord stopped working. The recording box eventually fell out of Tom’s white belly. I loved it so much, I could not part with it.

I stopped sleeping with stuffed animals and my puppet when I entered junior high school. My Tom and Jerry puppet was relegated to the basement. At some point, I said goodbye and tossed it into the trash. It was probably when my parents decided to turn our basement into a finished rec room. The allure of having parties and entertaining friends attracted my full attention.

What is the best Christmas gift you ever received?

Over the years, I have had many memorable gifts. The very best gift, however, was a profound sense of peace. I recalled such a feeling that occurred in December of 2020. Our oldest daughter was completing the last fall semester of her undergraduate studies. She initially told me that she did not owe anything for spring semester. I was surprised as she always had to pay a relatively small amount.

Always skeptical, I kept checking the account statement. Without warning, the account statement changed indicating that she owed over $10,000. My heart started beating fast and hard. What!!! That made no sense! I alerted her and she told me that she would check with the office that handles student accounts. Every time I thought about the pending amount, I used mindfulness breathing.

Mindfulness breathing did not remove the cause of my concern. It helped me refocus my thinking. As a result, I found that I could moderate my emotions. When faced with a scary situation, it is so easy to allow emotions to rage. Raging emotions are volatile. They fluctuate and initiate the stress response. The stress response changes the physical body and aggravates chronic physical conditions.

The profound sense of peace came when my daughter called me one evening to share that she owed nothing. Her final semester of college was paid in full. I could not believe it, so I looked at the account statement. I still did not believe it until we both spoke to the bursar’s office. The relief I experienced was overwhelming. I felt like I could float away.

Mindfulness Practice Encourages Peace

Some situations do not have happy endings like this did. Relief does not always come easily. How can we get through difficulties without losing it? Mindfulness is the solution that has worked for me. Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment on purpose without judgment. This means that our awareness and attention is fully in the present. We are not trying to rehash or fix things that occurred in the past. Additionally, we are not imagining or projecting thoughts into the future.

You can learn to incorporate mindfulness practice into your life. The practices allow you to be fully present when interacting with others. You won’t miss fleeting experiences. It also gives you the skills to temper emotions.

Are you ready to receive another best gift ever?

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