Week 9: Ordinary Ways to Invite Peace into Your World
Hello, and welcome to the final day in our Holiday Less Stress Challenge.
Today we will review all that we've learned about living a peaceful life and sharing peace with others.
Ways to help ourselves feel peaceful on the inside:
Have a daily stretch. Exercise your muscles. Do yoga.
Get outside. Take a walk each day. Lose yourself in the wonder of nature.
Live as a peace maker. Speak and act with peaceful purpose. Guide others to understanding and compromise.
Engage in peaceful pastimes. Craft, build, create your holiday gifts from scratch this year.
Find peace in Christmas and holiday music. Listen, sing, be carried away.
Take time out to reflect during this busy time. Give yourself the gift of space to just think and be.
Dine together in peace. Savor your meal as you share a peaceful space with others.
Choose to respond peacefully. Offer others benefit of the doubt. Contain your fluctuations.
Have a peaceful heart. Love humbly and with respect. Treat others the way you'd like to be treated.
Celebrate the holidays with peaceful people. Emulate their gentle way of being.
EXERCISE: Make time for peace
Make a plan to be outside, enjoying the peace in nature, braving the cold.
Where will you go?
Will you skate on the frozen pond?
Hike through the snowy woods?
Commit to choosing a simple activity that will bring your heart peace during the holiday season. Think of that quiet room with the cozy couch.
What will you be enjoying in that peaceful space?
Hand-writing special sentiments?
Knitting socks?
Get in the practice of stretching your muscles each day. This is a stressful but fun time of year. Remember that a good wind-down will help you sleep better and be rested for the next fun event.
Begin with a few simple yoga poses. Remember that slow, mindful breathing is key. Start and end your day with a good stretch.
Share with your family your intention of becoming a more peaceful person, not just at the holidays but all through the coming year. Consider what you'll say to them so they might take you seriously. Talk about ways you can show more peace to each other.
JOURNAL IT:
Write down 10 things you plan to do in the name of being more peaceful in the coming year. Make a resolution for peace in your life.
It can be small gestures, big changes, or both.
For the Future:
Patch up a friendship. How will you make peace with this person?
What will you say?
Practice being peaceful toward people in passing.
Start with a smile.
Other ways you might show peace to strangers could be…
Giving a random compliment.
Offering up your seat to someone else.
Letting another car ahead of you on the highway.
Buying coffee for the person behind you in line.
Tipping generously.
Listening to a stranger share their troubles.
Saying "please," "thank you," and "have a good day."
Helping an elderly person carry something heavy.
Holding the door open for someone else.
CONCLUSION
Thank you for joining me for the Holiday Less Stress Challenge.
I hope it has brought you to a place of greater insight into your own mind and heart.
It is my wish that any angst or frustration that you may have known in recent days has since been replaced with calm, mindful contentment.
I hope that you've come away from this personal challenge a more peaceful person than you were before.
I encourage you to share your newfound peace with others.
Peace be with you and your loved ones, this holiday season and throughout the coming year!