Have you ever noticed how STRESSED and OVERWHELMED most people become during the holiday season? I’ve noticed that the holiday frenzy begins its ascension around November 15th, peaks on December 24th and then begins to wind down. Talk about a roller coaster ride! If you’re anything like me, you have a load of things to get done and accomplished in a very short amount of time and on top of your usual to-do list, there’s the added chores of shopping, planning, preparing, cooking, decorating, wrapping, merry making and my favorite … the “push you to your spiritual limits” experience of dealing with traffic and short tempered people everywhere you go! I’m astonished by the amount of road rage, coveting of goods in department stores and down right rudeness between people that I’ve witnessed around the holidays!
Doesn’t everyone frigging know this is the most wonderful time of the year?
LOL! But seriously reader, be honest, do you feel rushed and overwhelmed with all the things to do, be, and buy during the holiday season? I believe in Life Magick™, a process where you co-create your life in sync with nature, Universal Law and in communion with the Divine, so finding (and holding onto) peace amongst the chaos is something I’ve been immersing myself in for years. Here are a few of my favorite practices to help ground you and bring peace amidst the December/New Year frenzy.
1. Create Traditions: Traditions and experiences trump “stuff” every time. If you have teenagers, you might challenge me on this one (giggle), but it’s true. Ultimately, experiences and traditions are what stand out, and the most memorable ones are usually simple and inexpensive. More than material goods, practices are what you remember when you’re older. So I invite you to create experiences and traditions for your loved ones this holiday season. Turn off the television, light candles and listen to holiday music each night. Bake something and deliver it to your neighbors or friends house. Bring nature indoors by creating centerpieces, mantle adornment or wreaths for your home with branches, pinecones, berries and leaves gathered locally. Light candles, lots of them and diffuse seasonal scents like pine, citrus or cinnamon to tickle your nose. These are the sweetest of days and life is truly what you make of it.
2. Surround Yourself With Those You Love: The address of your home may have changed over the years, however home is wherever your heart is and where you soul rests. It’s natural to want to be with those we love the most at the holidays. If your family is scattered around in different locations, give yourself the gift of going to them or bringing your loved ones to you this year. Can you host your loved ones at your home? Can you travel to them? Ask yourself what it would require and then do it. Light a candle on your altar and set a positive and powerful intention for how the experience will be for everyone involved.
3. The Love Is In The Details: Think about which details you can put attention to this holiday season that will make a difference in your experience. Can you go all out with seasonal decorating? Can you plan out a special menu or two? Perhaps you’d like to send out festive invitations and host a small, intimate dinner party for the people you enjoy spending time with the most? Get dressed up, spritz yourself with your most deliciously scented perfume, and adorn yourself with your favorite or most sentimental jewelry pieces for a gathering. Could you host a cookie swap or gift exchange with a fun and unique theme? Plan a Naughty Santa night with your beloved? Go all out! I invite you to find three ways to delight in the details because love resides in the details.
4. Pace Yourself & Remember To Rest: Winter is the season of rest. In the Native American tradition, winter is in the North on the medicine wheel. December begs you to retreat and unwind, which is the opposite of what your social calendar dictates. Magically speaking, spring and summer are the months of activity, creation and motion. What could you do to promote more rest and relaxation in your life? I have noticed myself naturally starting my nighttime ritual earlier. I want to get in my flannel pajamas as soon as dark comes which in New York is about 5pm at the moment! Many fail to rest in the winter as nature intended and then find themselves out of sync with the seasons for the rest of the year. Locate your North now, take a liberal dose of Bear medicine, hibernate, and get the slumber you need… NOW is the time!
5. The Most Valuable Gift Is Your Time: Don’t sacrifice your presence for presents this year. The best gifts are ones that have love, thought and your presence rolled into them. Show up this season and lead by example for those around you by being fully present. What words and actions do your loved ones crave from you right now? If you can’t spend time together in the same room, can you carve out time for connecting on a call? My favorite ways to connect with those I love and don’t live near is by using Skype or Face Time. There’s nothing like looking into each other’s eyes, the eyes are the windows to the soul and a face to face conversation, even virtually, is so much more fulfilling than a text or phone conversation in my opinion!
6. Give With An Open Heart: This month is a perfect time to take a look around you and identify the items you no longer use and give them to those who can benefit from them. You are far more abundant than you realize, we all are. We all have items that we no longer need or use and those items can definitely enhance someone’s life right now. I like to think of ways to make the holidays brighter for others by gifting them or a charity with items, food or goods that are literally collecting dust in my home. Perhaps you can donate a few hours at a local pet shelter or nursing home? Love with an open heart and give of yourself freely, this is the true meaning of the holidays.
Sending you Yuletide and New Year blessings this season and evermore. And so it is.
