Here we are, once again, in the middle of the “silly season” as it is called here in South Africa. For those of you in the US, Thanksgiving has just passed, and now all of us are dealing with the myriad holiday events at school and workplaces and then will get ready for the next round of Holiday Family Bingo.

It's the season of doing and not so much of being, for many of us. And so I’d like to bring your attention to some words I love, ones that help me remember to take time to come home to myself when the world seems to need more than 100% of my energy.

It’s called “Love After Love” by Derek Walcott.

The time will come

when, with elation,

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was yourself.

Give wine. Give bread, Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

I hope you’ll consider these words an invitation to take the time to gaze into your own eyes, breathe deeply and reconnect with the voice of your soul, of the divine. To take the time to remember that we serve best from a place of overflow. And to recall the truth – that none of us is okay until all of us are okay. So for you to be more than okay on any and all levels, well that’s just good for everyone.

And likely far more helpful than showing up for yet another festive event, overtired and spread too thin.

Let’s give back our own hearts before we give too much of ourselves to everyone else, shall we?

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