I’m writing this on Christmas day in 2024, which coincides with the first night of Hanukkah. Kwanzaa is tomorrow. The solstice was a few days ago.
I feel as if the calendar gave us all a big present: “We’re all on this little rock together.”
I hope that all your gift acquisition and receiving experiences met your expectations.
But, I suspect not. Even if you got every “thing” you wanted, I wonder if you got all your desires.
Since my desires extend past my immediate family and friends, my answer is no. Not because I didn’t receive presents, but because my heart and mind desire more than presents can fulfill. I have big, big desires, most of which require I integrate my heart and my mind. You might have the same “problem.”
Integrate Hearts and Minds for Our Real Desires
I’m still learning to integrate my heart and my mind. For years, I thought of my body as a way to carry around my brain. (Go ahead and laugh. I laugh at myself now for thinking that way then.)
Now that I’m just slightly more mature, I realize that life requires we can’t think of just one part of us. Instead, we need to integrate all the parts of us for a good life: our physical, intellectual, and spiritual lives. We can’t separate any part of us and still be “good” human beings—a mensch. Yes, that’s a Yiddish word that sounds like exactly what it means: a person of integrity and honor, someone who can be good. People like that integrate their hearts and minds.
Menschen (the plural of mensch) cannot be perfect, because that’s impossible. But aim for being a good person.
Good people integrate their hearts and minds, even when that’s a challenge. Because, life is a challenge. I find it especially challenging to integrate my heart and my mind to make the world a better place for all of us.
Make the World a Better Place for All of Us
Like I said above, my desires mean I want to make the world a better place for all of us. That means to optimize up for the greater good.
I want the world to be a better place, for the people who live now and all the generations after. That’s not a present someone can give me. That’s way too big a goal because it requires we do something about the warming temperatures, we find ways to house people who do not have homes, and to make a good life possible for the people who struggle and can’t quite get there.
We can do so, if we all agree on the overarching goals and make small collaborative steps to achieve those goals.
This year’s calendar shows us that it’s possible for us to come together. Let’s optimize on the date intersection to create a world where we fulfill the presents our hearts and minds desire.
I have two hopes for all of us this year. First, is that we all find ways to be menschen (the plural of mensch), and find ways to integrate our hearts and minds in everything we do.
Second, regardless of if or what you celebrate, I hope that each of us can find some joy and peace in this end of 2024.