Five Tips for Keeping Balance During the Holiday Season

This time of year is the most stressful for many of us.  The six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years are often full of shopping trips in overcrowded malls, traffic and increased travel, expectations that we feel we need to live up to, and increased time around friends and family members.  All of these are triggers that can send even the calmest of us into ‘stress mode'.  However, there are some simple things we can do to change that this holiday season. 

Creating a life of balance is a CHOICE and no matter how many things happen to you, it is ultimately your decision how to react to the external things that are going on in your life. 

Practice Mindful Meditation

 A perfect solution for those of us who can't seem to fit in daily meditation - mindful meditation can be done anywhere, anytime.  While washing the dishes or doing the laundry, walking to lunch, or waiting to pick up the kids - take five minutes out of each day to clear your mind and only concentrate on the task at hand - feel the soap running over your hands, enjoy the sound of the running water, your feet walking over the earth, the clouds in the sky- really focus your attention on the present moment and lovingly ask any other thoughts or worries to go away. 

Use Aromatherapy

  Lavender is an excellent oil to use for calming.  Carry it with you and apply it throughout the day whenever you are feeling rushed.  Simply drop one-two drops on your wrists, rub together, then lift to your nose, take several deep breaths in and allow the lavender to restore peace and balance.

Prioritize with your Angels

 Even if you feel like it is necessary to send out Christmas cards to everyone you know, put a tree up, buy presents for all your nieces and nephews, and host a party - Let go of what you feel you are expected to do and sit down with a piece of blank paper to ask your angels what the most important thing to concentrate on is.  Allow yourself to write down whatever comes to mind - trust that they are guiding you.  You may not hear or see a message but may feel instinctually what activities are the most important.  TRUST these messages - and say NO to the activities that are not on your top of your list. 

You don't have to do what you've always done - Make this holiday season the time to check in and only commit to those activities that are truly essential!

Practice Self Care

 With all of the extra obligations and outings that the holiday season brings, it is essential to pay extra attention to nurturing our body this time of year.  Prevent holiday burn out by scheduling in regular times of self care.  Do not allow yourself to make excuses - remember you cannot give fully unless you too are taken care of.  So take time out to practice yoga, treat yourself to a massage, allow yourself to spend several hours reading your favorite book, or simply light some candles and take a relaxing bath.  Most importantly - you want to schedule this time - if you wait until you ‘have time' to fit it in, the time will never come.  Make self care time a necessary part of your day - just like making dinner or answering emails!

Clear and Shield Your Energy

 Just because you have decided to make this holiday a stress-free one does not mean that everyone else is following the same path.  Call on Archangel Michael to clear you each night before you go to sleep - simply request that he take any harsh or negative energies that you may have absorbed during the day and release them to the light (if you feel that you have taken on an excess of toxic energy over the course of the day it may be necessary to spend more time focusing on each part of your body and asking that he clear you out slowly).  You can then ask him to shield you from further intrusions. 

Simply invoke Archangel Michael and envision him surrounding you in a tube of light (white for divine protection, pink for divine protections and love, blue for divine protection and strength and green for divine protection and healing)

You may have to practice shielding yourself several times during a particularly stressful day.  This is a powerful technique - I have literally felt the tension leaving my physical body after asking Michael to clear me!!

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Aimee Shea is a holistic counselor, teacher, and energy healer.  You can read more about the services she offers at www.indigorisingonline.com.