Small Business Today Magazine APR 2015 POSSIBLE MISSIONS | Page 36

EDITORIAL FEATURE

recognizing

the Value of Celebration
BY KIM SAWYER

another important
aspect of our
psychology as
human beings is that
we also can’t help
having a survival
system. Thank goodness that we have it
and that it operates
so well when we
truly need it. There is,
however, an inherent
and unavoidable side
effect that can be very
problematic to our
sense of life.

W

hat is a celebration really? Is it a party?  Is it
the loud exclamation of “Yay!”?  These are
examples of celebration but what does the
concept really mean?  Most of us have only
a very vague emotional idea of the real meaning yet
the ritual of celebration may be one of the most important ingredients for our success as human beings in every aspect of our lives.
It’s all about value.  What are values?  Why have
values?  What is their purpose?  Very basically, value is anything that each of us has decided contributes to our living a good life.  It is the fundamental
motivator; it’s what drives us to move and act toward things.  A value is anything that a person acts
to gain or keep.  If I’m not acting to gain or keep
it, it is not really a value to me, regardless of what
I may proclaim.  We have all heard the dictum, “If
you want to know what someone truly values, look
at their checkbook and their calendar.”

A celebration is a ritual – a ritual about value.  A
celebration is any thought process, activity, or conversation whose purpose is to acknow Y