How to beat the holiday stress frenzy

Labels are words we place on our life experience. Often, labels are used to associate a word with a specific experience, whether that be an experience with a person, place or thing.

For example, the word “holiday” actually comes from the Old English word "Holy Day." Its original meaning included taking a break from work, resting and slowing down. These days, "holiday" too often evokes more stress, more work and extra anxiety around to-do lists and a lot of "have to" and "should" guilt language which robs us of any sense of refreshment associated with a day to rest and relax. We are "shoulding" all over ourselves and flaring our body into a holiday stress frenzy.  

Is it possible to maintain inner calm and a relaxed attitude in the midst of the holiday craze? What if you could flip your relationship with stress this holiday season and look at it as an opportunity to identify and adjust your perception so that your words; thoughts; deeds and actions align with the person you are committed to being in and through the gift of the season?  

Rather than loading all kinds of expectations and assumptions around how you think the holidays should look, feel and sound, how about flipping your perceptions into a place of wonder and curiosity?  

As soon as you assume or expect that you or another person or situation should show up a certain way, you instantly render yourself extremely vulnerable to rising and falling depending on specific outcomes. Thought forms like, "if this isn't perfect I won't love and accept myself" or "if I don't complete everything on my to-do list in a specific way then I have failed."

Failure is simply a label we place on an undesirable outcome. Curiosity and fascination open up our child like space of wonderment which evoke feelings of joy and a willingness to explore new ways of experiencing life without the need to own; control and possess, analyze; interpret and conclude.

If you feel the pressure in your body when you look at your to-do list, simply ask yourself: "What do I need to remember in order to relax my response to what I feel I need to accomplish in order to feel safe and enough?" then listen and see what pops up inside your castle. Perhaps you will hear, "Remember this: you've already made it and add value to each situation because of the person you are not because of what you do."

Think of it this way: You are the landlord of your interior life. How many tenants are you giving free rent to that are literally trashing your internal home? Fear? Doubt? Worry? Perfectionism? Guilt? Inadequacy? Lack and scarcity? 

Listen to the intonation you use with yourself and demands you place upon yourself and others this holiday season, and look for opportunities to remember important pieces of information that perhaps you are distorting, deleting or generalizing that perhaps are robbing you of your ability to refresh and enjoy the aspects of a holiday.

The first holiday season that I fully entered into from a place of authentic desire to realign my words; thoughts; deeds and actions with what I truly value most was when I was diagnosed with advanced cancer. For this first time in my adult life, a childlike wonderment filled the interior rooms of my perceptions and everything around me flipped into a wonderland of opportunity to create moments filled with what is truly essential on this journey of life.

Life satisfaction flows from who you are while you do what you do. The next time you start to feel the heat rising up in your body because you feel you will not get the outcome you expect, pause and go right to the source of the stressful expression: your body. Breathe in to the count of seven, hold it to the count of eight and exhale to the count of seven.

Repeat this breathing technique three times. With each inhale think about one thing you have going on in your favor. With each exhale imagine releasing the stress in your body, tune into your main emotion: fear, doubt or worry. Negativity shrinks in the light of gratitude.

Click here to watch a 10 Minute EFT Demonstration to help decrease your stress flare ups this holiday season.