Taking one minute breaks throughout the day to focus your spirit can restore joy and serenity in this hectic season.
For Your Mind
- Open your eyes. Really look at someone you love, as if for the first time. Tell them how much you appreciate them.
- Have an attitude of gratitude. Start small: think of ONE thing you are glad for this year. Smile over it! Feel the heart open with gratitude. Make a point to notice your gratitude every day.
- Infuse your home with calm. Simmer a small amount of cloves, cinnamon, and orange peel in 2 cups of water on top of the stove for a soothing, calming fragrance.
For Your Body
- Tame the beast. Try the lion pose, a tension relieving yoga position: Sit quietly, eyes closed, and inhale through the nose. Open the mouth wide and stick out the tongue. Stretch it down toward the chin (sorry, we’re not kidding). Open the eyes wide, look up, and let out a roar as you loudly exhale. Close your mouth and relax your eyes. Repeat.
- Shrug away tension. Don’t carry the weight of the world; shrug it off. To release upper body tension: Inhale and tighten the shoulders, pulling them up toward the ears. Exhale and gently release. Repeat three times.
- Laugh. A good laugh is a tranquilizer with no side effects. Laughing reduces stress hormone levels, decreases blood pressure, and relieves muscle tension. Rent a funny movie or share amusing past holiday stories with friends and family.
For Your Spirit
- Connect with people. Really notice sales clerks when shopping. See them as people with families and a life outside of helping you. Practice the art of kindness.
- Accentuate the positive. Meditate on the virtues of someone you love. Next, meditate on the virtues of someone you are angry with.
- Let go and let God. Meditation teaches us to quiet our overactive brains and experience a sense of serenity. Turn off the TV and find a quite place. Breathe deeply five times. Lift your cares up to God. Express your deepest concern. Do this for 30 seconds. Spend the next 30 seconds letting go of it, watching it float up to the heavens. Then let Someone qualified worry about it for you.
Relax and enjoy the holidays. Accept yourself and your limitations. Find joy in the moment.
Joy is not in the past or in the future. The opportunity for joy is now.
