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Survey: When Christmas Has 'Religious' Meaning besides Just Cultural, It Doubles People's HappinessIf sadness overwhelms the holidays because of loss or divorce or estrangement or distance, start now to create a new "family" of friends with whom you can celebrate Christmas. Join a club and volunteer to participate on special projects. It's often in such settings where people with shared interests and values engaged in meaningful service that relationships grow fastest. No matter what happened to your family, whether decades ago or just last weekend, you can start to invite people into your life today. [Gospel Herald] The survey found that people who said they see Christmas as a religious feast, opposed to not seeing it as religious any longer, are more likely to feel happier. A total of 77 percent of survey respondents who see the day of the birth of Jesus Christ—one of the highlights in the Christian calendar—as both a cultural and a religious feast said they felt happier than usual during the festive season. The percentage falls to 59 percent among those who primarily see Christmas as a religious feast and to just 32 percent among those who regard Christmas as a cultural feast. While only 4 percent of those who regard Christmas as both a religious and cultural feast indicated in the survey they are sadder in the festive season, the percentage rises to 11 percent among those who regard Christmas as primarily a religious feast, to 25 percent among those who regard it as a cultural feast and to 66 percent of those who regard Christmas as being neither a cultural nor a religious feast. To get more happiness from Christmas, following are 11 tips from as published by Meant To Be Happy.1. Connect To The Deeper Meaning Of The Season From family togetherness with gift exchanges and Christmas traditions to the original celebration of the birth of Jesus, as believers rededicate their lives to living a Christ-like life of faith and virtue to the popular celebration of the giving spirit of the holiday, there's something deeply meaningful for almost everyone. 2. Serve Someone Sadness is inward-looking; service is its opposite. By making someone else's life better, joy will start to replace sorrow. Meaning and purpose will begin to reinsert itself into the holiday experience. Self-pity will give way to a growing appreciation for the bounty of life. 3. Celebrate The Season With Forgiveness Of all the gifts you give this year, perhaps the most meaningful and life-changing will be the gift of forgiveness you offer someone who has offended you. 4. Make It Fun And Festive Get out the lights. Put up the tree. Blast the tunes. Decorate. Dance around the house. Invite others over to dance with you. Sing carols. Pour a glass of eggnog. Pop some popcorn. Watch a funny holiday movie. Laugh out loud. Don't wait around for the season to get into you! Jump into it head-first! (Photo via simple-dress.com) 5. Create A New "Family" If sadness overwhelms the holidays because of loss or divorce or estrangement or distance, start now to create a new "family" of friends with whom you can celebrate Christmas. Join a club and volunteer to participate on special projects. It's often in such settings where people with shared interests and values engaged in meaningful service that relationships grow fastest. No matter what happened to your family, whether decades ago or just last weekend, you can start to invite people into your life today. 6. Do What You Love Be your own funk-breaker! Paint. Run. Climb. Sing. Swim. Serve. Learn. Play. Give. And watch what starts to happen to your holiday spirit. 7. Become The Neighborhood's Secret Santa Bake some cookies. Buy some gift cards. And start secretly making your neighbors' day. Put a plate of cookies on a doorstep or put Christmas cards on the windshields of cars in your community... Continue reading here.
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