New Challenge: How to Reduce Stress During the Holidays
Can you believe?
It's been a year since I started this Happy WAHM Newsletter! A big thank you for your readership and your constructive comments throughout this adventure. I must say that I am quite proud of my consistency, but I now intend to reduce the pace a little in order to give us the time to focus more on our respective priorities (especially this time of year) and take the time to integrate each new little challenge and tips.
Here is the new schedule that I propose to you:
(From now until the end of December)
A new bite-size challenge every Monday (to start the week off right!) + special gift for my VIP members (aka paying subscribers).
An inspiring article on Wednesdays with simple tips and tricks to help you ease the stress that accompanies this time of year.
And delicious recipes to try as a family will continue to make your mouth water on the weekends!
Ready?
Let’s dive right in with your first bite-size challenge:
Week 1: Peacefulness Comes from Within
If you're reading this, then you probably hope to become more peaceful. You know what your body, mind and soul have been craving. Perhaps you don't feel peaceful for a lot of the time. You want to change this.
Do you wonder how other people seem to exude this sense of patience and peace, while you're feeling all tangled up inside?
Does peace take hold of your person only some of the time? So you want to preserve that feeling, hold onto it and welcome more peace to your whole being?
Peace comes from within. So with this in mind, let's begin by exploring your inner sensations for the current moment.
Stop what you're doing.
Stand up slowly from your chair.
Feel the blood flowing through you.
This is your life force!
How does this simple act of putting your body upright on two legs make you feel? What sensations are you experiencing as life flows through you?
Are you currently relaxed and present? Or are you tense, eager or even anxious to move on to the next thing?
Feeling peaceful is as much a physical sensation as it is an emotional state. Sensations and emotions share a causal relationship.
Mind your breathing - Do your breaths come slowly, from your center? Or do you take short, rapid breaths? We shallow-breathe when we're stressed or tense. This is the opposite of feeling peaceful!
Pay attention to the sensations of your fingers and toes - Are they slightly buzzing or almost rushing?
What about your head? Wiggle your eyebrows up and down. Tilt your head from side to side, not too fast. How does that feel?
Are you peaceful, or is there a restlessness inside of you?
The simple act of stretching our bodies releases inner tension from our muscles. Tension makes us feel stressed, tight. Tense feelings affect our thoughts and reactions.
Pose a simple question to a tense person, and the answer will be very different as compared to if they felt relaxed and at-ease.
Are you that tense person? Let's work on changing this, so you can find more peace, and that peace may find you!
JOURNAL IT:
Our first challenge in the Peaceful Holidays series had us quietly observing our own body sensations, and stretching our muscles. Let's take a moment to write down what we learned.
How did you feel before you did the stretching exercises?
Are you already starting to fret about finding the perfect Christmas or Hanukkah gift? Worrying that all of your holiday plans must be executed perfectly?
Did you feel peaceful, or were you more keyed up, thinking about all you still have yet to do?
Describe the sensations you picked up while being mindful of your fingers, toes, head, and breathing.
When you leave the house today, you can approach the busyness of the holiday season with dread and anxious feelings. Or, you can take a mindful and meaningful approach to creating a most beauteous Holiday experience for family and friends.
Sharing peace at holiday time begins with a peaceful feeling from the inside. Stretch your way to being at peace! Share that lightness of being with others you meet.
EXERCISE: Stretch your way to peaceful feelings.
Move your body through a mindful release of tense feelings. All this requires is some basic stretches like those I am offering you today…