Hey Grinch, the holidays are coming. I know … you love seeing your family, but just about every other part of the holiday season seriously annoys you. You’re bracing for it, waiting for it to be over.
You’re pressured to buy presents you can’t afford, annoyed in shopping malls and parking lots, not looking forward to the snow and rain, and really not looking forward to seeing that family member who always gets everyone mad. You’re just stressed about the whole season.
Deep breath. I know. I’ve been there.
You’re feeling holiday stress. But this year, let’s play a different tune. Let’s keep your mindset high and your stress low. A little holiday self-care is in order.
A Little Holiday Self-Care Is In Order
Holidays can’t make you feel one way or another. You choose how you’ll be in them. You can let go of the stress. It all starts with how you feel.
I use a self-care practice called Flowdreaming that can help you sail through the holidays with money jingling in your pocket and smiles across your untroubled brow. And if you don’t know it, it’s time to learn.
How You Feel RIght Now Is Key
Think of how you feel right now about the upcoming season. Excited? Depressed? Are you already bracing for stress? Money stress? Bad weather stress? Maybe even bad family stress?
Notice, too, if you’re already highly stressed, and if the holidays are kerosene on the fire.
That’s the mindset you’re carrying right now. It’s the one that’s anticipating the extra expenses, hassle of shopping, anxiety about socializing, family infighting … you name it.
It’s a form of bracing. Your emotions and energy are already getting locked up in a pattern of resistance and negativity. In essence, you’re telling your future self, and the whole season, exactly what you expect from it. Which is…not great stuff, right?
These are the feelings we need to flip. If what you think is what you create, then we know exactly how your holidays will land…they’ll be exactly like your anticipating them to be, through your feelings right now.
Think of it as pre-paving your future with instructions for, and expectations of, negative results. Now imagine if your future heard you, and said, “You bet we can deliver that! We want to give you exactly what you’re asking for.”
What we’re doing here is walking you through your emotional expectations and showing you the logical outcome. What you feel is what you get.
So What’s To Be Done?
I start my morning holiday self-care by closing my eyes for a few minutes and begin Flowdreaming, a practice similar to meditation that creates an interconnected overlap of deep emotion and Flow in one very active place.
Think pumped up meditation. Prayer on steroids. It feels powerfully co-creative since you can program new feelings and requests into your life and future while at the same time creating a balm for your present angst and frazzled feelings. All you’re doing is combining daydreaming with intense emotions that will, sooner or later, release you into Flow state.
Once in Flow, I lose touch with the world around me. I lose track of time. All I’m doing is feeling, feeling, and envisioning and feeling some more.
The emotions I want to feel bloom through me. I’m like an orchestra director, waving my baton and creating the scenes that embody the feelings. I go into each one and feel how I want to feel, replacing all the lousy feelings I previously had with rich, vibrant, delicious feelings instead.
A Whole Different Set of Holidays
And in this case, I’m feeling a whole different set of holidays unfurl for me.
I’m smelling the piney scent of a Christmas tree, and seeing my kids light up with joy as we decorate it together. My heart relaxes with joy.
I feel swept in abundance and support, as I receive all the cashflow I need to sail through the holidays with money in the bank. My money stress releases.
I feel how all the shopping is done, everything delivered right to my door! My stress about not having enough time is eliminated.
I feel at ease about the parties or social activities I go to. I’m swirling in happiness and contentment.
I pinpoint every negative thought about the holidays that creeps in, and replace it with other expectations and better feelings.
Create These Feelings In The Space of 5 to 10 Minutes
I create all these feelings inside me in the space of 5 or 10 minutes.
And this shifts me. It fundamentally and profoundly helps me let go of holiday stress.
When I opened my eyes, my mind has relaxed. My day smooths out. The holidays open up rich and beautiful before me. I have stopped pouring heaps of negativity into my future, and the world stops receiving it (and responding to it) from me.
This is my morning holiday self-care practice. And on rough days, it’s my afternoon and evening practice too.
Now it’s your choice. You probably have some practices already the calm and balance you. Now add Flowdreaming to them, and you might just discover that missing piece that will free you and help you let go of holiday stress for years to come.