Gifts We Carry Forward

As the holidays of light gather around us, I hope the days ahead bring you many moments of joy, rest, and connection. Not the commercial kind, but the kind that feels real. Whether your season is lively or quiet, may something in it remind you that being with those who matter, and noticing even a small light, can steady us.

The days between holidays often offer something rare: a pause that asks little of us. Work slows. Obligations ease. This brief stillness becomes a hinge between what has been and what might be possible next.

I’ve learned to enjoy this pause. When life grows quiet, clarity often returns in small ways. We can recognize what softened us, what strained us, and what carried us through. Our lives are shaped far more by small moments of presence or courage than by dramatic ones.

A quiet truth becomes clearer at year’s end:

Light returns to the world the way love grows in the heart: gradually at first, then undeniably.

And these are the gifts we carry forward.

Over the past months in The Gist of It, we’ve explored the outer practices that make relationships breathe: presence, friendship, boundaries, and the courage to be known. I hope these reflections have offered practical insight as you navigate your own connections.

In January, we’ll turn inward to the emotional terrain that sustains relational courage.  These are about identity, discernment, emotional bandwidth, and the quieter practices that steady us from within.

But before the new year arrives, please offer yourself the dignity of rest. Let the year settle. Let what was heavy ease its grip. Let the goodness you offered, often quietly and without recognition, stand as evidence of a life lived with care.

Here is a truth worth keeping close:

The world softens when we soften. The energy we extend shapes more than we realize.

May these days bring softness to your edges.
May the people you love feel close, even if only in heart.
And may the returning light find in you both openness and peace.

Warmly,
Marilyn

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And that’s The Gist of It™: insights on relational courage — the courage to know and be known by others.
These practices help relationships breathe rather than tighten, deepen rather than fracture.

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Marilyn Gist, PhD