‘Tis the season, and judging by the retail lines on Black
Friday, many of us are clearly more focused on the gifts
that we can purchase from big box retailers. How about
just this once we hit the “pause” button on the holidays
and look for the other gifts, those that are with us every
day, those gifts that can’t be purchased with plastic credit
cards.
“Gifts” come in many forms, not just wrapped in brightly
colored packages tied with holiday bows and colored rein-
deer printed tags.
The most important gifts we receive are unwrapped and
often go unnoticed by us, as we are generally so focused
on the externally programmed holiday shopping maze.
This is even truer during this season that overemphasizes
gift giving in the monetary, commercially exploited sense
of the tradition.
I am writing this on a shuttle from the Maui airport to La-
haina over the long Thanksgiving weekend. I fled here to
spend it with my 87 years-young mother, to experience
a more simple expression of the day we designate every
year for gratitude. I am aware that this month’s issue is
filled with glossy images to entice us to buy beautiful gifts
from choice Los Angeles retailers, and with no disrespect
to that tradition, this month’s column is dedicated to re-
minding us of the simple gifts we receive every day.
my own. I found myself moving from bed to couch to futon
in two-hour increments to find snippets of sleep at night
due to the intense pain. For a type A personality who never
stops, the “hidden gift” was a forced pause, humbleness,
humility, gratitude for my ability to walk, to move, to do
yoga, to take a deep pain-free breath, and compassion for
the millions of people who suffer daily with back pain and
those in wheel chairs who live in this way their entire lives!
Finally, the pain lifted enough for me to travel, and as I
listened to the shuttle driver on Maui share his love for his
home, with all its inherent gifts, I knew that no matter what
this season brought to me in the form of wrapped gifts, I
had already received the greatest gift of all.
May your holidays be filled with the gift of love, health,
family, friendships, warmth, shelter, peace, abundance
and joy! May double Maui rainbows touch you this year
and always! May you share these gifts with those less for-
tunate and in need, this season and every season.
The shuttle driver, a native of the islands, spent the hour
drive sharing all the information he had about his home. He
was so proud of it. He spoke of a daily rainbow that lives in
the Kaanapali Valley at Puukolii and comes out every day,
a gift to the islands. I happened to glance to my right and
saw it under the swirling mist against the deep green, lush
hillsides. It was majestic and had a mystical quality to it
with colors that were otherworldly. Colors from Heaven’s
paint box.
He went on to speak of whale season, noting that the
whales migrate from Alaska to Maui this time of year to
give birth in the warm waters offshore between Lanai and
Molokai, up the Napili coast from Kaanapali, close to the
rock outcroppings that provide some birthing privacy. They
are like the humans, he said smiling, “They come to Maui
to flee the cold climates.” Even Angelenos’, who have
80-degree weather in December, find themselves booking
flights to the Islands this time of year, more to escape the
often frenetic pace, than the weather.
My greatest gift of the season arrived in early November. It
was early in the morning after the one rain in Los Angeles
in 191 days. I was walking in the early morning and found
that in a split second my face was kissing the slippery side-
walk and my feet were not upright. How, you might ask,
could a fall be considered a “great gift”? The “gift” that ar-
rived was 21 days of intense pain complete with very limit-
ed mobility. The Dr. who X-rayed my back had to lift me off
the cold stainless steel table, as I was unable to get up on
Lori Tierney is an author
and Feng Shui consultant
living in Los Angeles.
Lori Tierney
@cougaryoga
www.loritierney.net