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Your help is much appreciated in passing on this World Council for Health message!

Thank you for all the love and support you have shared on this A Better Way with Dr Tess Lawrie Substack community this past year. It is very much appreciated and, in truth, is what keeps me going. Today marks the winter solstice, the turning point when the dark has reached its darkest depths and the light returns. I wish you a good rest, that you may be full of energy to meet the needs of 2025. Lots of love to you all.

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The Spirit of Christmas

By Dr Dana Flavin.

The spirit of Christmas is not a feeling that comes once a year to awaken us from our dormancy of emotions. It is something that lives within us throughout the year. If we allow ourselves to open up to this special enlightenment and let it stir in us every day, the kindness and love that have been with us since the beginning of mankind will live again.

When we think of the Christ child, we think of the innocence and helplessness of our beginnings in life. We think of the dependency we had, and the nurturing that was given to us so that we could become honourable men and women—men and women who can, in turn, give this care and love to others. But what have we learned from this beginning? What have we learned from the sufferings and anguish of mankind throughout the centuries? Have we learned to give of ourselves selflessly? Have we learned to love without demands or expectations in return? What have we gained from all the years of learning and knowledge that have come from our experiences, and how have we learned from the lessons of others long before our time?

The spirit of Christmas is love and caring—for mankind, for family and friends, and for all those who need us, especially those less fortunate than we are. Not necessarily in material things, but in the kindness and compassion that belong to humanity alone. Only we can give love; only we can give compassion; only we can have the honour and courage to help those in need. Let us not forget what separates mankind from all other species. It is our ability to feel, to comprehend far beyond the animals that surround us, and our ability to reason. This ability tells us that we are different from all others. Only because of this difference can we give what no one else can—we can give love. It is not something one can buy or sell, rationalise or trade. It is an emotion of such altruism, such idealism, that there is no comparison in any other world except for ours. This is what we must not lose; this is what we must not forget. This is what we must continuously develop within our hearts so that it will not be lost.

When each and every one of us remembers what Christmas really means, when each and every one of us says a prayer, reaches out our hand, and opens our hearts to give the gift of love that grows within us, then love will not die. Love will live forever, and the spirit of Christmas will live in every moment, every day, within our hearts—forever.

Thank you, Dr Flavin!