Today, 24 December, is Christmas Eve, for all who celebrate Christmas in one way or another, religious or secular. For all who keep the Christian liturgical calendar, today is the last day of Advent, the purple season of preparation that precedes the Christmas season. (Reminder: There are 12 days of Christmas, and that 12-day season starts tomorrow and ends on 5 January. You are not late. You are right on time.)

Today, the last day of the preparation season, might be just the right day to put a wish out into the universe, whether that wish is tiny or enormous. If you write it down (provided you’re being reasonably realistic here), then the odds of its coming true increase.

Here’s the prompt: What’s one thing you hope (wish) will be true when you go to bed tomorrow night, on the 25th?

The purpose of this work is to add a dimension of intention to the often overly busy and sometimes frantic day we label “Christmas Eve.” When you lay your head on the pillow tomorrow night, after the day of celebration (if you’re celebrating Christmas), what’s one thing you want to have settled, have done, have said, et cetera. [NOTE: The exercise holds value even if you do not celebrate Christmas.]

Mine’s easy (well, not easy — but here it is anyway): When I go to bed tomorrow night, I want to say, truthfully, that our family Christmas was peaceful — no stress, no arguing. So, with that in mind, I have a tool for managing myself over the next 36 hours, a commitment that is entirely about me, my own behavior, my own pledge to myself for something that’s important to me.

Yours might be a great deal easier and entirely unlike mine. Whatever you write, it will be yours, just for you.

Because one way not to lose your f*cking mind this December is to get a grip on yourself, interrupt your own busy-ness, and take a minute to become settled and grounded. I promise this is true. I promise that it works.

I’ve teed up the Christmas Day post in advance so it will publish early Christmas morning. I’ll be back in real time on Boxing Day, 26 December, and, just so you’ll be prepared, the work that day will be a twist on the Christmas post.

P.S. – Every day I post the book: December Sanity Journal.