The holiday season is upon us, and with it come the signature hustle and bustle, glowing lights, stacks of tasty treats, and friends and family gathering for delicious meals. It’s often a time of quiet reflection, and of cherishing memories past while making new ones, too.
While it’s without a doubt the most wonderful time of year for many people, this cozy season can also be difficult to get through. For many, whether they’re grieving a loss or wishing distant relatives lived closer, it’s a time of missing friends and family. Financial strain can be stressful for anyone, while the business and demands of the season can make it pass us by in a blur.
This (and every) holiday season, whether the festivities are full of cheer or feel bittersweet, remember that you’re not alone. However you celebrate, take a moment to absorb this selection of 15 quotes offering peace and comfort for this time of year.
What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.
— Helen Keller
Life isn't about getting and having, it's about giving and being.
— Kevin Kruse, author and historian
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
— Kahlil Gibran, poet
A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.
— Maya Angelou
Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves — slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.
— Thích Nhất Hạnh, Buddhist monk
Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.
— William Shakespeare
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
— Charles Dickens
To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.
— John Adams
Just when you feel you have no time to relax, know that this is the moment you most need to make time to relax.
— Matt Haig, author and journalist
Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry — all forms of fear — are caused by too much future, and not enough presence.
— Eckhart Tolle
We get such a kick out of looking forward to pleasures and rushing ahead to meet them that we can’t slow down to enjoy them when they come.
— Alan Watts, spiritual teacher
Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.
— Hermann Hesse, poet and artist
Let go of what has passed. Let go of what may come. Let go of what is happening now. Don’t try to figure anything out. Don’t try to make anything happen. Relax, right now, and rest.
— Tilopa, Buddhist monk (as translated by Ken McLeod)
Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.
— Chris Van Allsburg, illustrator
There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.
— Leonard Cohen
Photo credit: kajakiki/ iStock
