Change with the Season: Tips To Stay Grounded For the Holidays
By Ilchibuko Todd
President of Sedona Mago Center for Well-being and Retreat
The Fall time kicks off the holiday season which can be both an extremely joyous and stressful time. You are getting to spend time with family and loved ones, but with that, can come internal and external conflict.
It is natural to slip into old habits and patterns that no longer serve you when dealing with familial relationships. You may feel naturally uneasy or anxious around your loved ones or family and it can trigger your flight or fight response. You may also feel that because you are so busy focusing on your family and your external environment, you have lost the connection to your internal world, your true self, and your higher self.
These are all normal responses. We tend to go on autopilot for the holidays where we are reacting to our environment rather than reflecting and/or observing. As such, it is important to create new habits that may help you stay grounded and connected to your true self while still being able to attend to your family and loved ones.
Tip #1 Get into a gratitude practice no matter what
It does not matter if things are going well over the holidays or not, it is always a great rule of thumb to have a grateful mind for what is happening now. When you shift in consciousness towards gratitude you begin to master the present moment. You don’t see things as happening to you but for you.
When you feel like complaining about something, try to appreciate it instead, even if it is making you uncomfortable. You can always learn and grow from all things and shift out of a victim mindset. When you focus on gratitude, even your response to the situation changes, and you can be more open and respectful towards others; having empathy for even their wrongdoings in the situation.
Tip #2 Think about the preciousness of giving and sharing
No matter how much you make or how much money you have in the bank, there is always something you can give to others. This can be as simple as giving a warm gesture to someone or a loving salutation. When you focus on giving, you can naturally open up to your divine nature, i.e. the brightness in you that is unattached to anything else other than love.
When you focus on what you do not have, you can trap yourself inside your egos. You may start to feed into your negative emotions and thoughts because you tend to focus only on “acquiring” things and relationships. When you don’t get your way or things don’t go your way, that can lead to disappointment, upset, and negativity. When you focus on giving, you naturally tune yourself toward your own inner abundance. You act as if you have enough and therefore will believe that you are enough. When you bring this mindset forward this holiday season, it can allow you to appreciate the life that you already have and share that energy around to other people.
Tip #3 Be the conscious observer over the constant reactor
It is natural for us to flow back into old habits when family and loved ones are around. They can trigger old emotions and we can easily slip back into old consciousness that is not necessarily in alignment with our true selves.
We often meet our parents and family members with a judgemental mindset; having preconceptions of what they have or haven’t been. As well as our loved ones have preconceptions of who we are, and who we have become, or didn’t become. Attaching yourself to these preconceptions puts you in a reactive mindset. You may reject or even numb your emotions with unhealthy habits so that you can cope.
Rather than bypassing and blocking your own conscious awareness, it is important for you to shift into being a conscious observer. You don’t need to block or reject your emotions. You can notice what may be coming up for you. Notice where this stagnant energy is stored in your body and what that may mean for you. Notice what is happening to your emotions, and your thoughts, and reflect. Consider not reacting to old patterns and think about new actions you can take so you do not repeat cycles.
Look at your loved ones from new perceptions; ones that can support your relationships to move past old stories and share more love, peace, and harmony with one another.
Join Sedona Mago’s Wellness Retreat to learn how to release old stories and heal your relationship with your loved ones. Learn how to develop an energy practice that can allow you to tap into higher levels of consciousness, detox from old behaviors that no longer serve you, and be a better human to your loved ones and to the world.
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