Managing Your Stress During the Holidays and Beyond: Tip #28 – Practice Forgiveness

Some people believe that forgiveness is about what someone else did, but really, it’s about us. When we hang on to the wrongs of others, it affects us far greater than the other person. We can harbor painful feelings, negative thoughts, and spend a lot of energy thinking about something that’s in the past. The holidays are prime time to practice forgiveness, as we are often reminded of our past and the ways we think things should have been. As the ultimate gift to yourself, find something or someone you can forgive and then let it go.

Managing Your Stress During the Holidays and Beyond: Tip #27 – Think Before You Speak

When others say and do things that “push your buttons” you may find yourself going on auto-pilot and just blurting out what you really think. But when emotions are running high, what comes out of our mouths is rarely what we really mean to say. Do yourself a favor and take some time to think before you speak. If needed, leave the situation, go into another room, hang up the phone, or summon every bit of self control you have to keep yourself from saying something you may regret later.

Photo: (Too much) Thinking © by the Italian voice

Managing Your Stress During the Holidays and Beyond: Tip #26 – Embrace the Let Down

It’s inevitable. All the weeks of building up to your holiday celebration, preparing, getting things ready, talking about it, and then in a flash, it’s over. It’s okay to allow yourself to feel the let down that often comes after a long-awaited event. It’s your body and mind’s way of letting go of the tension and build up that’s occurred. And it’s a natural and necessary part of the process. A time for you to re-energize and get ready for what’s next.

Managing Your Stress During the Holidays and Beyond: Tip #25 – Believe in Magic

You only have to look at a young child enjoying the holidays to get in touch with the magic of the season. The magic of anticipation, of wonder, of believing in that which we cannot see. As we grow up, we often lose sight of this type of “knowing” and some of us spend a great deal of effort trying to recapture it as adults.

On this day, stop and take a moment to remember the magic. Get in touch with your inner child if you have to. But try to look at what’s in front of you through innocent, trusting, and believing eyes. And see what kind of a difference that makes in how you experience not only this day, but tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on.

How would your life be different if you believed in something without seeing it first?

Managing Your Stress During the Holidays and Beyond: Tip #24 – Enjoy Yourself

Stop. Breathe. And enjoy all that you have created so far this holiday season. So many times, we get caught up in the planning and the doing that we forget to relish in that which we’ve planned and done. Sure it’s a wonderful feeling to watch others enjoy the fruits of our labor, but shouldn’t we enjoy it as well? Today, give yourself permission to enjoy yourself and all that you’ve created.

Photo: Happy Smiles (Nicole & Kati) © by aaronkaiser

Managing Your Stress During the Holidays and Beyond: Tip #23 – Pamper Yourself

It’s so easy to get caught up in doing for others, but when we neglect ourselves in the process, it can do more harm than you think. You might start to buy in to the notion that you are not as important as others, or that others deserve more than you. Bahumbug to that! Let someone else worry for a while and do something special for yourself. Take a long, hot bubble bath, get a massage, get your nails done, or something else that makes you feel special.

Photo: facial massage © by o5com