The Best Present You Can Ever Give

It's so strange. I feel like I have no back in this dress. It's a backless dress. No, it is not just in my mind. Most things are, but this is not. Hey, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business and life you love. And today, I want to wish you and your family the happiest of holidays. In my family, today we are celebrating Christmas. Now, I don't know what you celebrate, but along with this season of good cheer and one of my favorite things ever, Christmas specials.

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Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?

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It will be an honor, sir.

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There can be a lot of pressure around giving gifts. Since you're probably going to be seeing a lot of people you love today and over the next few weeks, I want to remind you about the most important present you can ever give, your presence. Doesn't cost you a thing and I have to tell you, the people in your life, that is what they want the most from you, your presence, your full attention, your heartfelt understanding, and your love. Our lives have gotten so hectic and in this 24/7 connected world, we're all addicted to checking our computers and our phones. Anytime there's uncomfortable silence or the action stops, we all get triggered to go check our phone. In fact, Qualcomm says that on average, we check our phones 150 times per day. That's once every six and a half minutes. Hey guys, did I get that? Guys?

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The problem is we're losing our ability to give our full undivided attention to the people around us, the real people who matter most. Life is so precious and it's so fleeting. No matter how challenging it is to spend time with your family at the holidays, you have to remember, they're not going to be around forever. You don't want to look back with a heavy heart full of regret wishing that you spent more time truly connected to them heart to heart, rather than being connected to your phone because here's the truth. And yes, it's a tweetable.

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"The best present you can ever give is your full attention." Let's make this holiday the best ever by taking our focus off of material gifts and putting it on what really matters most, giving attention to the people we love. Make it a point to turn off your phone and really be with the people you're with on this holiday, whether it's your brother or your sister or your parents, your kids, your aunt, your in-laws, even if you're out and about and it's strangers that you meet on the street, give everyone you meet this holiday season the gift of your full attention.

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One of the things that I love most about our MarieTV community is how we come together after the episode and we have a discussion about the topic, which brings it more to life. Now, if you have a story about how being fully present with the people in your life has made a difference, I want to hear about it. Now, I also understand if this episode has inspired you to turn off the computer and go be with your family, that's awesome too. But when you come back online, please do come back and let us know how it went and how it made a difference to give your full attention to the people you love. Remember, the richest discussions happen over at marieforleo.com, so I will look out for you there. I wish you and yours a holiday filled with love and joy and presence. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time on MarieTV.

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B-School is coming up. Want in? For more info and free training, go to joinbschool.com. Happy holidays [crosstalk 00:03:57]! Yay, it's snowing [inaudible 00:03:57]. Bye, everyone! Happy holidays from MarieTV [crosstalk 00:04:05]!