The holidays are upon us—that most wonderful yet hectic time of year. Most of us are already overly busy: work is longer, play time is rarer and more intense. Just the thought of getting ready for the holidays is unnerving as we try to determine how we’ll manage our holiday to do list and still keep up with our regular work load. This year make the decision to do the holidays differently. Take the self care oath not to let the tension get to you—easier said than done, but entirely doable.

During this age of non-stop communication, peace and quiet have never been so important. Once we create the habit of grounded quiet time, it is easier to stay balanced and focused.

The 1st step is making the decision. Then the question becomes how to achieve your peace of mind without antagonizing your whole world. That is where the how comes in. The how starts with as little as 5-10 minutes alone with oneself each day before any interaction with family, loved ones or fellow workers. It is one of the best, most stabilizing things you can ever do for yourself. If you are able, find a few extra minutes before this “quiet time” to connect with or write down whatever is weighing heavily on your mind. It is such a helpful exercise to pinpoint exactly what’s bothering us, note it and either let it go or find a productive way to deal with it. If we don’t give ourselves this conscious quiet time, small problems can become a jumble of tangled emotions that consume us. When we take the time to slow down, we often find that the things that cause us the most grief are the things we can do the least about anyway, so there’s little point in letting them ruin what is otherwise a very special time of year.  

During this age of non-stop communication, peace and quiet have never been so important. Once we create the habit of grounded quiet time, it is easier to stay balanced and focused. Then the question becomes how do we keep the peace and calm that we worked so hard to achieve despite life’s challenges. We need to guard our inner peace and stay centered in our commitment to ourselves instead of reacting to negative people, places or things. Consider the quiet center inside of you as a child for whom you are responsible and who always needs protection. When it means that much, we realize how important it is to safeguard that part of ourselves.

The next step is forgiveness and gratitude. Even with our commitment to self care, we are human and at some point or another we all fall back to our self defeating old ways. Forgiveness of ourselves and others is so necessary for self acceptance and personal freedom. Gratitude for each of our blessings is the beginning of this route to peace within us.  

Happy Holidays!
From all of us at ÀTOI