Dealing with the Killer Called Stress by Captain Paul Watson

Captain Paul Watson

Founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Co-Founding Director Greenpeace Foundation

Dealing with the Killer Called Stress

Observations and Advice by Captain Paul Watson

I am often asked how I deal with stress considering I’m wanted by Japan and Costa Rica, I have a price on my head from the shark fin mafia of Costa Rica, we have numerous ships on the sea in dangerous campaigns, I am being sued, threatened and harassed continuously and I have a lot of enemies, critics and people who wish me harm.

The answer to this is simple. I don’t deal with stress, because I do not suffer from stress. And these are ten primary reasons why, and for anyone suffering from anxiety, worry or stress, I would like to offer this advice.

1. It is what it is. Whatever the issue, whatever the threat, whatever the circumstances it simply is what it is. Stressing will not change the situation. All problems can be dealt with or ignored.
2. “It’s always something.” I say this all the time to my crews whenever a problem arises. “It’s always something and if it’s not something, it’s something else, but it is always something.” This means that life comes with obstacles, challenges and problems. Problems should not be unexpected. They are inevitable. All problems can be dealt with by dealing with them, delegating someone else to deal with them, or ignoring them. One thing for sure, on a ship, it is definitely always something.
3. Stay calm. There really is nothing worth getting upset about. For example, if I drop a bottle of wine or tomato sauce and it shatters, my reaction is, “hmmm okay, that needs cleaning up.” If I lose my phone, wallet or keys, my reaction is “I better replace what I lost and take measures to cancel my cards etc. More seriously when my regulator jammed once at 30 meters, I calmly signaled my partner to indicate my situation. Fretting about it will not recover the object. Panicking will not save your life. Anger emanates from stress. Without stress there can be no anger. Without stress there is no panic.
4. Nothing material is permanent and thus objects are not worth stressing about. Your car is damaged, something you own is stolen, or you lost your investments etc. It is really not important. Material objects and comforts are nice but they should not be anchors keeping you attached to stress. Move on.
5. Friends are friends or they are not. A true friend will never betray you and if a “friend” does betray you than he/she is simply not a friend. Always walk away from betrayal and do not stress about it. True and loyal friends are rare treasures and should be treated as such. Loyalty returns loyalty. Compassion returns compassion. Courage returns courage. However you control only your own loyalty, compassion and courage, not that of others. And if they prove disloyal or they betray you, the treasure is no longer a treasure but merely a bauble to be tossed aside. Never stress about betrayal or loss. It is what it is.
6. Loneliness is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to discover yourself. You can’t find someone to love you if you don’t love yourself, and the secret to finding the right person is to not look for that person. Love should blossom from the ground like a lovely wild flower. It cannot be cultivated until after it is realized. Do not seek the seed but let the flower reveal an opportunity to you to grow and learn.
7. Relationships are like streams, constantly flowing and as they flow they meet obstacles. Some are minor and others major but a relationship either flows around the obstacle or it is blocked, and if permanently blocked, it ends. This is not cause for stress or angry, resentment or jealously. It is what it is. Move on with appreciation and without bitterness for the relationship that is no more, and open your heart to other possibilities that life presents. The most important factor in maintaining a meaningful relationship with lovers, family or friends is simply acceptance. You need to accept them for who they are and they need to accept you for who you are. If you cannot accept another person for who they are, you need to stop inflicting stress on that person and to walk away. And if another person does not accept you for who you are, you need to walk away no matter the nature of the relationship. Stress kills and living with a person who does not accept you for who you are, is like living with a person who is slowly killing you.
8. Fear is a poison that seeps into the soul and paralyzes our senses generating paranoia, insecurity and anger. Never let fear enter your life. There is really nothing to fear because things are what they are and will be what they will be. Remember you are the captain of your fate and the master of your soul and body. Who you are and what you wish to be depends on you and you alone. A person free of fear can accomplish far more than a person shackled to fear.
9. Oscar Wilde once said that the only thing worst than being talked about was not being talked about. People talk, they gossip, they make false accusations, some enjoy insulting and belittling others. They are easily dealt with by ignoring them. Responding to them is what they want, so don’t respond. Reacting to them is what they want, so don’t react. Such people are not worthy of causing stress to you. They come from a place of insecurity, jealously and fear. It is their stress, and their stress is their problem. It should not be yours.
10. Hoka Hey. It’s a good day to die. It’s a Lakota saying and it means to not fear death and to stand firm for what you believe in, to fight against all odds and to never surrender. The one absolute of life is death. We all will die. What matters is not dying but living. It is how you live that is important and the only thing important about dying is how you die. It should be a death without fear, with dignity and with acceptance that it is what it is. The person without fear dies but once, the person shackled by fear dies slowly from stress and anxiety. Accept the inevitable, embrace the final reality of life and smile in the face of the infinite. The real secret to happiness is to not fear your own death, to not fear failure or ridicule, and not to fear others.

Stress is an obstacle to mindfulness and an impediment to impeccability. Stress is the cause of migraines, cancer and many other ailments. It is the reason people smoke, take drugs, and drink excessively. When people ask me why I’ve never smoked anything, the reason being is that I have never felt inclined to do so. It never seemed healthy to me and I have always been mindful of the consequences. I think that stress blocks mindfulness of consequences. The same holds true to getting drunk or stoned. Without stress there is no need, nor a desire to do either.

Mindfulness is simply awareness of who you are and what you are doing. A person who is mindful is a person free of stress.

Unfulfilled desire leads to stress. Wanting nothing allows you to appreciate what you have. When you want nothing, you want for nothing. We all have basic needs for food, for warmth and shelter, for clothing and for companionship. Mindfulness allows you to be secure with your basic needs. Everything else is a luxury and although luxuries may be appreciated, you should not depend upon them. Depending upon luxuries leads to stress.

I have never worked a day in my life for the sole purpose of making money. I have never wanted to own anything and although I now do own property and material things, I do not allow those things to own me. I never engage in arguments about money or debts. I tend to avoid debts but when debts occur my position is that they are what they are and certainly not anything to be troubled with.

As far as basic needs, I learned to address this as a teenager when I left home at 15. I had no money, no place to stay, no prospects. I jumped a freight train, rode in the automobiles being transported from Toronto all the way to Vancouver. I arrived and camped in the abandoned gun towers on Wreck Beach and the first thing I did was to go to Vancouver City College to enroll. I found a job, moved out of the gun tower into a single room I rented and went from there. Looking back I see it as an adventure. I had nothing, but there was no stress. I simply replaced the insecurity of my position into an adventurous experience. I treated every job as a learning experience and working as a longshoreman, teamster, tree planter, warehouse man, short order cook, baker, painter, carpet layer, postman, tour guide, landscaper, and seaman all were educational experiences.

The truth is that all of life is an adventure, the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, the experiences, the hardships, the thrills and the times that were lonely, happy or difficult. Even the loss of friends and family is simply dealt with by acknowledging that death is as it is. It is inevitable and although we may sincerely mourn we can do so without being stressed. This may be difficult to understand but it is indeed quite possible. With the passing of every friend, with the passing of my brother I have silently said “Good-bye” with the appreciation of having known them.

I have gone into situations many times where the risks of injury, death or imprisonment were practically a certainty. My approach has always been acceptance. And amazingly I am still alive and still free. When I have had nothing I have had everything I need, and when I have risked all, I have usually been successful. One of the things that concerns me is when I read about, or hear of people, especially young people committing suicide because of bullying. I wish that I could talk to such people before they make such a terminal decision. I would tell them to not let the insecurities and fears of others influence them in any way. I would tell them to accept that all the ridicule, insults, bullying and peer pressure is irrelevant and simply unimportant to who they are. If a parent is unaccepting of who you are, you need to say to them that if you are unacceptable to them they have no right to be your parent and you should walk away from them. Too many people are enslaved to parents, partners and friends who do not accept them Unacceptance and bullying are forms of violence and everyone should walk away from violence with dignity. No one should tell you what to believe, how to think, how to dress, how to behave or to dictate your sexual orientation or condemn you for your compassion, your passion, your imagination and your character. You are who you are and that is what it is, and how it should be, and if others do not tolerate who you are, don’t give them the satisfaction of destroying you. Simply symbolically spit in their eye, walk away and concentrate on being who you are for the benefit of yourself.

And if anyone is inclined to commit suicide my advice is to commit social suicide instead. That is, to drop out of your life as it is and begin another life, in another place with new ideas. Adventure is the antidote for depression. Take a chance, jump into the unknown and you will be amazed at what is awaiting you after you do.

I am not infallible. I have made mistakes in my life, many of them. I have at times in the past responded with anger although never physical and limited to the poison of the pen. I have let some people down, disappointed others and missed opportunities. But the one thing that I have been able to do in my life is to avoid stress.

At 64, I am healthy, happy, optimistic, and as passionate as I ever have been. Even more so because I have had the grace of experience and the satisfaction of achievement in those areas that I chose to address.

The point of this posting is this: Do not let stress ruin your health, your love or your life. Dreadnaught and live the adventure, this adventure that is life. It may well be the only life you will ever have. Even if you believe in the afterlife (oh and don’t stress about that either) the fact is you will never know for sure, so no sense wasting the unique life that you have.

A stress free life is not only possible, it’s also essential for your health and your happiness.

Read more about Captain Paul Watson 

Straight to the last piece of the new piano book!

What do we expect from a first grader? In my 31 years of music teaching I have seen a lot of things. 

Stephanie, a six-year-old Hungarian student of mine, supposed to start her Level 1 new piano book today but she flicked the page to the Certificate, similar to what we filled in for her when she completed her Prep book last lesson. Then she flicked the page to the last piece of her new book. She was not too worried of the look of the hardest piece at the end of her new piano book so I thought, let's just see what happens if we try it instead of going back to the beginning of the book and start with the usual revision.

It was amazing to see how Stephanie applied all the things that she learnt. She recognised the Alberti bass patterns, figured out the rhythms and said the names of the letter names. We identified the two chords that were broken up in the left hand bass then she identified the names of the long, held notes in the right hand. In no time she was putting the hands together in quite a reasonable tempo and with great fluency. In no time, she learnt it! What an amazing achievement!

Watch Stephanie's third attempt to play Sonatina with two hands! Pay attention to the fact how she is reading the notes from her book! What an amazing girl!

How is this music reading from a beginner piano player? This video is a great example of raising the bar when we work with children!

Having a cleaning lady is not a luxury

I grew up in a modern family where housework and upbringing of children was shared between my parents. They were both working. My mum in the hospitality working two different shifts, 7am-2pm or 2pm-10pm and she was working on weekends, too. She loved it and she was well loved  and known in her profession. My dad worked as an engineer designing portable units for chemical companies and experiments and worked 7am-3.30pm on weekdays. I liked that my father was willing to cook, clean, look after us, do anything that was needed to help mum. However, when she was free, she did all the work she was able and let my dad relax and enjoy his hobbies, writing poems, novels, build a radio and later, grow fresh produce in our hobby garden. Our family was doing very well for a working family in Hungary.

I don't think there and that time it would have been conceivable to have a cleaning lady. Probably, we did not even need one. I think my family coped very well with all the daily challenges thanks to mum's changing shifts. I really think, it helped her to be on top of things to be at home in the mornings when dad was working and I was at school, to do the housework and cook fresh food for us, daily.

I remember coming home from school and the freshly cooked, delicious food being left for us on the stove. Always at least two courses, a soup and a main and sometimes salad. Lots of variety but always simple and good food.

Keeping a cleaning lady, in my memories was associated with the aristocrats and a very well to do families. I can't think back that I knew anyone, who had a cleaning lady to help with housework, in my circle of friends in my childhood.

I remember this theory of earning well and making money when I was part of Herbalife and we had personal development sessions as part of our training. I remember the concept taught to us that when you start earning well, give away money and turn back money so it can multiply. Employ, help others earn well too.

Then as I traveled and worked in other countries, I saw that many families had help with housework and that it was a normal thing to do.

As I got more busy lecturing, traveling to other universities, giving workshops and conduct concerts and rehearsals, my schedule started to be really hectic. I always managed things pretty well on the home front but many of my creative works suffered because I could not start my writing or songwriting until my home was not in perfect order. It was simply part of my preparation rituals and procrastination.

I was living in Townsville when I got my first cleaning lady. A friend, who lived on the opposite side of road from me recommended this lady to try. She charged so little that it would have been really ridiculous not to use her services. A few times I was there and we did things together then she has got a key because I was away on the day when she came to do the cleaning. I remember, what an incredible nice feeling it was to get off the plane after a very busy concert period away, arrive with the taxi to my home, enter my house and see a sparklingly clean, tidy home. There was food in the fridge, ironed clothes and sheets in the wardrobe and fresh flowers on the table. It was worth every penny to me! All I needed to do is unpack my suitcase, put my things in the washing machine, eat something, have a shower and go to bed. I had the weekend to recover from my trip instead of cleaning, shopping, ironing, cooking etc.

Then life changed and I had a less stressful lifestyle and I managed things again pretty well.
However, recently things got too hectic again and I found things hard to manage at home when it came to cleaning and being on top of things. I did not even realise, just recently, that this caused me stress! I like to be on top of things and when I am not, I get stressed. You know, all those jobs that you delay or don't do because it is too hard, not that important right now or even too nasty....
It was time to look for a company I could trust and find a good cleaning lady to help with all the houseworks again!

I checked things on the Internet and found Absolute Domestics. I made the phone call and two days later, my lovely Russian helper knocked on my door. Life changed with that moment again for the better. The best $90 spent fortnightly! A few sessions and she felt at home, she knew what and how I like and like a whirlwind she worked in my home. I made the list what had to be done and she did it! Friday afternoons, I have a spotless, tidy, lovely home to enjoy! Crisp sheets, shiny tiles, nice smelling curtains and all in order!

In some ways, I still feel "guilty" for allowing myself to pay someone else to do my housework. This is what I grew up with. But my rational mind reasons that why would I spend my precious tine with cleaning when that time can be better used for my creative activities or even to rest and recharge.

I also help someone else to get a job, earn some income. It is interesting what happens when you put aside the conventional thinking and form your life the way it suits you.

My cleaning lady herself is an artist, too. She is a painter. She does that in her free time, around family. However, while her son is in school and her husband is working, she does house cleaning a few days a week to earn extra income. It suits her well because she decides her own hours. She finishes work for the time her son comes home from school. Strangely, she is a neighbour of one of my lovely students. How small the world is!

Many times we have a little chat with the parents who bring their children for piano lesson. It is great to exchange ideas and to learn from them about things. I love chatting with the kids and their parents. What amazed me lately, how many of the parents are struggling with work, family and housework and that many of them have a home helper to cope with the housework! Once you ask around, having a cleaning lady is actually quite common!

I just recommended to my very good friend to get a cleaning lady because she travels for work all the time and she struggles to cope with everything when on the weekends finally she is back in Melbourne and would be happy to relax before sitting on the next flight.

How did we get to make our lives so busy that we are not coping very well with running a household, raising a family and holding a full-time job? You must be a Superwoman to do this nowadays!

Two weeks ago I committed myself to a 10 week Paleo Program that involves a lot of food preparation and cooking, which I am not used to. The time that is now free from doing housework, can be used to prepare healthy and delicious meals, resting and doing the things that I enjoy doing. Everything has a value. For most of us, time is the most precious after our health. So saving our time for the things we need it the most, is priceless. So I decided that having a cleaning lady is absolutely not a luxury.

Hungarian Easter

Easter (Húsvét) holds great significance to the people of Hungary. This is a special time where celebrations are marked by folk traditions and religious observance.

Elaborately decorated eggs, dousing rituals, church ceremonies, prayers, and special foods are common practices leading up to and during Easter in Hungary.

Here are a few of the most popular customs.

Lent
Hungarians regard “Lent” as the Great Fast for Easter. Since meat is forbidden during Lent, the day before Ash Wednesday is called “Húshagyó Kedd“, which means “meat abandoning Tuesday”. On Holy Saturday, what is known as “Nagyszombat” in Hungary, people take food baskets filled with kalács, red eggs and salt to the church, to be blessed by the clergyman. This blessed food is eaten in the Easter dinner after the resurrection ceremonies are over.

Easter Eggs
The art of decorating Easter eggs in Hungary was originally a Pagan ritual but was carried over with the acceptance of Christianity. Eggs are decorated with simple geometric shapes or ornamented with swirls of plants and flowers. The color red is often used as it symbolizes the blood of Christ. Many eggs also carry the embroidery of Hungarian designs that are a part of the traditional dress. Painted wooden eggs are also displayed in many Hungarian homes.

Flower Sunday
Centuries ago on Palm Sunday it was customary to bless not only branches but also the various flowers of the season. Today, the flowers are still mentioned in the antiphons after the prayer of blessing. Thus, the name Flower Sunday or “Virágvasárnap” is used in Hungary.

Sprinkling
Sprinkling is a very popular Easter custom in Hungary, observed on Easter Monday, which is also known as “Ducking Monday“. On this day, boys playfully sprinkle perfume or perfumed water on girls. Until some time back, young men used to pour buckets of water over young women’s heads. Now it is more common for men to spray perfume, cologne or just plain water, and then ask for a kiss and a red egg. This ritual is associated with fertility, healing, and cleansing rites.

Happy Easter!

Hungarian recipe made healthier

I used to love Hungarian food that my mum and dad made. Then, when I came to Australia, I did not cook any Hungarian food because all the ingredients tasted so different that whatever I cooked, nothing seemed to work or taste the same. I spent a year eating at the Canberrra Shopping Centre Food Court and at the staff canteen at uni in lunch time and I discovered that Chinese, Indian and Thai food are the closest to Hungarian so I was happy.

Now, twenty years later, I just started to cook Hungarian food again, taking the liberty of changing the recipes to suit my taste, diet and needs.

Tonight I cooked something that is very easy, quick and I used to love it! In Hungarian we call is "fasirozott". It is a meatball. Normally we would use pork meat but I must say, can't stomach pork meat here in Australia except made by Asians. This meat ball does not work well with beef,  in my opinion it is too strong meat so this time, I made it with chicken meat mince. However, don't be shy to try this meat ball recipe with beef or even lamb mince! I am sure it is delicious!

I chopped a brown onion, peeled a few cloves of garlic, pulsed them in the food processor, then added 500g chicken mince, added Himalayan Pink Salt, pepper and paprika and an egg. Mixed them well in the food processor and transferred the mix into a glass container with a tight lid and left it stand in the fridge for the night.

Next day, before to prepare my dinner, I peeled three zucchinis. I grated them and sprinkled them with salt and let it stand for 20 mins. I washed the rockets and drained them, put the salad in a bowl, added a few small Roma tomatoes cut into small pieces. Then, squeezed the zucchinis out of the juice and 2/3 of it I mixed with the meat to make it lighter. 1/3 of the zucchini I added to the salad. It has a lovely juicy texture and tastes lovely with the rockets and tomatoes.

Now, that I had the zucchini mixed with the meat, I put some almond meal in a small bowl, shaped a small ball out of the meat mix, rolled and rounded it with my palms and covered the meat ball with the almond meal. Because the meat mix with the zucchini is quite moist, the almond meal sticks to it nicely!

Just that you would not feel disappointed when you see the original recipe of "fasirozott", it supposed to be coated with freshly made breadcrumbs! But because I could not find breadcrumbs as I have not used any for years although I know, it is hiding somewhere there on the top shelf, a genious sudden idea came in my mind to use almond meal instead!

I made 4-5 small balls for dinner and had plenty of mix left for tomorrow! You even could freeze it and use it later! I started my Airfryer which means that without using any oil I can fry the meat balls! However, I am sure they are absolutely delicious fried in oil or baked in the oven! While the meat balls were getting cooked in the Airfryer, I sprinkled the remaining almond meals from the coating ball on the salad, added the juice of half of a lemon and sprinkled some Flax seed oil as a salad dressing. Feel free to use olive oil, avocado or any good quality cold pressed oil you like!

I hope you will like "fasirozott"!

Here I included the original recipe of "fasirozott" for your information! Enjoy!

Hungarian cabbage salad - using food processor

I am not a big cook. Definitely not a big baker. However, this summer, the weather was not hot and we had quite a few overcast and rainy days. This encouraged me to stay home, get on with my book writing and new business set up. Between works, it was really nice to get in the kitchen, cook a great vegetable curry, make a big pot of chicken soup or lately, experiment with some healthier desserts like using coconut flour and making raw vegan delicious slices. 

This tendency is rather funny, because my brother back in Hungary is a chef and makes incredible things. His older sister, cooks very, I mean VERY rarely! But this might be changing...especially, since second time I invested into a food processor. First time when I had one, I was working full time, no, rather in one and a half positions. My new food processor did not even get to that stage that I would have experimented with it and learnt how to use it. But now, my eating habits and my lifestyle was much more suitable to have a food processor and create great recipes with it. I am eating much more fresh produce, so slicing, chopping and mixing with it is helping me eating even better. 

When my food processor has arrived, I checked YouTube for videos to see how others use the processor and what it can be done with it. I was very impressed! It was so versatile that I knew, I will be using my food processor a lot!  

I did not make cabbage salad for ages because I could not bother slicing a whole or half cabbage with knife. But the food processor did this in a second! Wow! So next day, I went shopping for cabbage!

One of my first recipe that I made was a simple, raw Hungarian cabbage salad. It is extremely quick, easy to store in the fridge in a container and goes well with any meat dish, rice and potato dish. I remember, on hot summer days I even used to eat it just itself, it was so refreshing!


This cabbage salad is something my family very frequently made and kept in the fridge. 

Ingredients:

1 medium cabbage, shredded

1 teaspoon good quality sea or rock salt

1 cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon oil (optional, I don't use oil)

2 tablespoon white vinegar

pinch of caraway seeds, celery or cumin seeds (optional, for me without seeds it just does not work!)

Pink Himalayan Rock Salt and black pepper to taste if you like
Directions:

Slice the white or red cabbage finely with a knife or with your magic food processor, using the slicer. Put shredded cabbage in a large bowl, sprinkle with salt and vinegar and let it stand for a few hours or at least for 20 minutes.. When the cabbage softens, squeeze out the juice by hand and place the cabbage into a large bowl. 
In a mug or bowl add the water, vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt (be careful adding more salt, cabbage can be already salty enough for many after the 20 mins). Mix until sugar is dissolved and pour it on the cabbage in the salad bowl. Sprinkle with caraway seeds and mix the salad well. 
Taste for seasoning, add pepper and oil if you like and cover the bowl or put the salad in a container to let it mature in the fridge for a few hours before tossing again and serving. 

Note:
You can add more or less vinegar, or more sugar, make your dressing tangy or sweet, add garlic to it, go crazy. Perfect salad to go with meat and mashed potatoes.

Cabbage is a cheap, refreshing, nutritious food, very versatile and can be stored well in the fridge so use it and enjoy it!

Give presence

Christmas is approaching.
As we grow up and get older, things become less and less important and we realise that the most important things are not available in shops.

I teach music and I am lucky because many times the parents are sitting here with us at lessons. Most of them keenly follow every minute of the lesson. Proudly watching their child reading music, decoding the beautiful mystery of a new melody as the black notes are scattered on the staves. Making sense of these dots is like a snake charmer, inviting the melody to come to live note by note. It is one of the most wonderful skills one can have. It opens up a magical world both for the player and the listener. What a wonderful way to spend time and create something out of nothing!

In this technology focused and fast paced world even parents forget to connect with their children. Sitting behind us many times they spend the whole lesson playing on their phone, answering texts and disconnect from what is happening in the room.  Missing an opportunity to catch the magic, the moment when learning takes place, when a piece is played first time with both hands, when a composition finally performed first time without a mistake and when the dots come to live and the piece is not just played correctly but comes to live from feelings and expression, when real music is born.

No Facebook posting or text message can compete with these moments. These moments will never return. Just like the first words and the first steps of a child.

As a teacher, I am very much aware of the change in the energy in the room when we all focus on the player. We are all one, our energy united. There is harmony in the room and the player is supported. But when someone in the room watches his/her phone and is disengaged from the work that takes place, the circle of energy is broken. It is extremely destructive to both of us. It is very hard not to ask the parents to put down the device and focus on the work. To make them realise that they are missing an incredible opportunity to connect with their child on a very different level.

It is an every day problem. We are more connected than ever and at the same time more disconnected from each other, from our friends and families and from society than ever. People are more lonely than ever. The depth of our relationships and connection to other human beings have tragically  changed. Connecting to another person and listening, truly listening to another has always been an Art. The knowledge of the few. Now more than ever. A person, who truly listens and pays attention is very powerful.

What we teach to kids is very important here. How we relate to our loved ones and to our friends carries a very powerful massage about our values. The approaching school holiday and Festive Season is a wonderful opportunity to connect again. To connect and to spend quality time the right way. Having some "no technology" time is scary at first. But if certain days or hours can be limited to quality time without devices, the rewards will be huge and Christmas more wonderful than ever!

When we look into someone's eyes, listen to them and connect on a deeper level, we send a very powerful message. That they are important to us and we want to connect and put them first. Nothing is so precious than your presence. Your true presence. So this Christmas, give presence!