The holidays can be full of fun, happiness and joy. They can also be stressful, uncomfortable and even difficult. Here are 6 tools that work in 60 seconds or less to change holiday stress and other common problems that come up this time of year!
Problem #1: You feel overwhelmed and stressed from all of the holiday activity.
Tool: It’s likely that most of the people around you are feeling something similar. Have you acknowledged that you take on other people’s feelings and emotions? What if that stress isn’t even yours? Sure, you have things to do; maybe even more than normal. But what if that’s actually fun for you? What if you didn’t buy into the overwhelm of everyone else? Try asking the question, ‘Who does this belong to?’ when you are feeling stressed. If you feel at all lighter or more relieved after asking it, just say ‘return to sender’, and allow it to float back out to where it came from. When overwhelm creeps up on you, what if you acknowledge you are actually an infinite being where everything is possible? Would an infinite being be overwhelmed? If not, then why would you? Choose something different; enjoy creating at a faster pace than normal. What would it take to out-create yourself one-thousand fold today? And have loads of fun doing it?
Problem #2: You feel like you have so much going on that you can’t be present and enjoy the moment. Nothing is getting your full attention — you feel flighty and scattered.
Tool: Pause, take a moment, and feel your feet on the floor. Close your eyes if you like. Put your hands on your belly, and breathe in and out. Take a few deep breaths, feeling your hands move back and forth with your breath. Ask your body to connect with your being. Now reach down into the earth with your being. Go deeper. Go deeper. Feel the peace and the calm of the earth. That is also you. As Gary Douglas, founder of Access ConsciousnessⓇ, says, “If you allow yourself to be and have that peace, it allows you to be one with the earth.” Now open your eyes slowly. And what if you could walk through your day with that presence, that peace, and that connection?
Problem #3: You are dreading an upcoming gathering with a difficult family member, friend or coworker.
Tool: Ask, “How can this turn out far greater and more amazing than anything I could possibly imagine?” You are not looking for an answer, or a way to figure it out. Ask the question and let it go. Don’t let your brain try to figure out an answer. You are asking the universe to show you something more amazing than you could ever calculate with your mind. Allow the awareness to pervade your world and have fun seeing what shows up!
Problem #4: You feel uncomfortable and awkward at holiday parties.
Tool: Before the event, ask yourself, “If I were truly being me, who, what, when, where, why and how would I be?” This is not a question you have to find an answer for. This is asking for that energy of you, comfortable in your own skin and being all of you, to show up. Just by asking it, you will step into more of the energy of you.
Also — ask questions; be interested rather than trying to be interesting. People love to talk about themselves and all they have going on in their lives. They will find you incredibly fascinating if you just ask questions and actively listen with presence and allowance.
Problem #5: You feel like you don’t fit the image of the holiday happy person/happy family ideal and worry about being judged.
Tool: Remember most people are too worried about themselves and all that they have going on than to be thinking about you. And if people are being judgmental, it’s great to realize that judgments aren’t even real. They are just someone’s interesting point of view in that ten seconds of time.
When in the company of others, lower your barriers and tap into the energy of who you truly be. When you ask your barriers to lower (and you do this just by silently asking them to), you can be present and receive all judgments with the energy of allowance. This is different than acceptance of a point of view. It’s just the acknowledgment of — “Yes this is judgment. I know it, I get it. And it’s okay.” When barriers are up or we defend our point of view, it just adds more energy and allows the judgment to continue. What if even the energy of judgment could contribute to you if you didn’t buy it as real?
Problem #6: You are eating foods you don’t normally eat, drinking more, and overall feeling guilty about holiday consumption!
Tool: What if you could give yourself one full month of not judging anything about your body or anything you put in it? Our point of view creates our reality. So when we buy into the idea that eating this or drinking that has specific outcomes, we actually create it. Stop getting in your own way and in the way of your body’s brilliance. Every morning ask, ‘Universe, show me something beautiful today about my body’. What if you could stop judging yourself and instead choose to see what’s amazing about your body?
I wonder how much joy and fun you can have this holiday season? It just may turn out to be far more amazing than you could imagine!
Emily Evans Russell is a Certified Access ConsciousnessⓇ Facilitator. You can read more from her own blog by clicking HERE.
Originally published at access-consciousness-blog.com on December 14, 2015.
Originally published at medium.com