There is one gift under the SineCera Christmas tree this year. Only one box, and I’ll let you in on a secret: the box is empty.

This wrapped package symbolizes the one thing you want most this year.

So what are you wishing for? Perhaps it’s better health, more time with family, or a closer connection to nature or the divine. Perhaps your wish is not for you, but for a loved one or a cherished friend.  

It’s not the shiny new thing under the Christmas tree that pulls at our heartstrings. It’s never just something that money can buy.

In the past few weeks, we have lost national icons. Henry Kissinger, Charlie Munger, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Rosalynn Carter all passed on after long and outstanding lives. Kissinger lived life with an insatiable curiosity and a deep commitment to making the world a safer place. Munger believed in hard work and in challenging his own and other’s ideas. O’Connor was a rugged individualist who approached complex legal issues with moderation and compromise. Carter worked beside her husband as a true partner for over seven decades of marriage.

The pursuit of wealth was not the defining goal of any of these icons. Even Munger, who was a billionaire, lived relatively modestly in the same home for 70 years. The pursuit of knowledge, however, was a common thread, as was placing value in long-lasting relationships and in living with high ethical standards.

While Kissinger and Munger are certainly oft-quoted, other notable people have provided their own take:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did. ~ Mark Twain

The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. ~ Maya Angelou

We can’t all be as notable (or as quotable) as these famous figures, but we can make sure we spend some time considering what we really want from life.

So what is your wish this year? Take some time from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season to consider your priorities and how you can make them a focus of your life.

We at SineCera Capital send our warmest holiday greetings and hope you will get your wish this year.