I will admit to you that I am terrible at wrapping presents. I never tie off the ends with just the right amount of paper. My cutting of the paper always always leads tojagged edge lines. I use so much tape to get all of the bulky paper to seal together. I have no idea how to tie a pretty bow. It’s a mess! I can be holed up in a room for hours and it makes no difference. It looks like — well, it’s a mess, but the thought and effort are there and that seems to take me far when I give a gift that looks like Snuffalufagus wrapped it.

However, for those of you who are crafty and creative and enjoy working with paper and tape and ribbons and bows, I have heard that wrapping presents can be an activity where not only creativity is expressed, but a way to find calm in the stormy seas of life.

I suppose it is akin to something like coloring. It does not take too much brain power to wrap a present and yet we all know – even me – the basic tenets of wrapping. As such our minds can go on hiatus from whatever has been occupying her and we can just give way to wrapping.

I would not call it meditative, but I do think it can be restorative to give up thinking and simply enjoy an act of doing that will cause a smile on another’s face and can lead to a calm demeanor as we partake in the great wrapping tradition.

If you want to add a meditation to your wrapping extravaganza, while you wrap a present for someone, call that person to mind and reflect on them and your relationship to them. Honor it in your thoughts and bring forth peace and calm for them, for you, for what is yours together. This can slow down the whole experience and add in an element of intention to your wrapping that is meaningful — along with being beautiful.

Even if you are like me and it looks like — well, let me go gentle with myself and call it — well-intentioned.