Being Present in the Holiday Season
The holiday season is here! In our past few posts, we’ve dived into managing stress and difficult situations like grief and loss during the holidays. Today we’re looking into the positive side of the holidays and how to stay present during a fast-paced time of year.
While the spirit of this season, with its twinkling lights, festive melodies, and gatherings with loved ones, seems like the perfect time of year to slow down and savor the moment, our busy culture can make it hard to find peace. We find many people saying they can’t believe how fast the holiday season is flying by or that it doesn’t feel as magical as they get older. In this post, we will explore incorporating mindfulness and gratitude practices into the hustle and bustle of the holidays, so that you can find ways to soak up the delight and remember the magic of this time of year.
Mindfulness
What is Mindfulness?
When many people think of mindfulness, they imagine someone sitting on a yoga mat deep in meditation, and while the concept of mindfulness is rooted in such ancient practices, incorporating it into a modern world doesn’t have to involve hours of deep reflection. In recent years, mindfulness skills have become valuable assets for enhancing mental health and well-being and can be easily woven into daily life. During the holidays, using these techniques can be a simple and valuable tool for slowing down amidst the hurried pace. They can also be used for grounding yourself in a delightful moment, to enjoy every aspect of it and create the rich memories of a joyful holiday season. There are many easy and simple ways to use mindfulness in daily life.
1. Mindfulness in the Moment
This skill simply means pausing to be aware of all your five senses in a moment, particularly one that you want to remember or enjoy. This could be feeling the warmth of a crackling fireplace, hearing the laughter of your loved ones, smelling the delicious aroma of a festive meal wafting through the air. So often, we rush through these moments and find ourselves wondering how the time flew by. But by cultivating awareness of these details in the present moment, we can deepen our appreciation of the richness of life and create lasting memories that last far beyond the holiday season.
2. Mindful Eating
Most people associate the holidays with delicious meals, treasured family recipes, and special foods that only get to be enjoyed once a year. While eating these meals, slow down and notice the flavors, textures, and scents of the meals. Put your fork or spoon down between bites to really notice the sensation of the dish. By paying special attention to these aspects of a meal, we enhance our pleasure of eating and also develop a healthier relationship with food. Mindful eating during the holidays allows us to savor the festive treats and meals we enjoy without overindulging, because no one wants a stomachache during the holidays!
3. Mindful Breathing
The holiday season can be enchanting and magical, but it can also add extra events and to-dos to our already busy schedules. All of this hustle and bustle can lead to feelings of stress and overwhelm when most people would rather just focus on loved ones and fun. Mindful breathing can be a simple, but effective way to calm the nervous system during these moments of overstimulation. Take a few minutes, or even just a few seconds, to focus on a deep, intentional breath. This not only reduces stress but brings us back to the present moment. A favorite breathing technique of the therapists at Reflect Therapy in Houston, Texas, is to simply inhale deeply for 3 seconds, hold the breath for 3 seconds, and then exhale for 3 seconds. Try it the next time you find yourself in a crowded store or a loud family gathering and needing to find some peace!
4. Mindful Gift-Giving
Many Winter holidays incorporate a ritual of gift-giving. If this is a tradition you celebrate, you can shift your perspective to truly delight in this practice. Instead of rushing through the task of picking out gifts, slow down and thoughtfully choose presents. Think about the person you’re giving it to, what they value and love, and choose a gift with meaning. Reflect on each gift as an expression of care and connection, rather than just an object to pass on. This can make the gift giving experience more enjoyable and loving for both you and the person receiving it.
5. Therapy
While not a traditional mindfulness practice, therapy can give you the time and space for self-reflection, allowing you to become comfortable and present with your thoughts and feelings, even the challenging and sometimes unwelcome ones. Just as mindfulness encourages you to be in the moment, therapy encourages you to be present with your inner experiences. A skilled therapist can help you explore this internal world and learn skills to develop awareness and acceptance of yourself and your emotions, so that you can enjoy your life around you, especially those fun and festive moments of the holidays season!
Gratitude
What is a Gratitude Practice?
Incorporating a gratitude practice into your daily life, simply means developing the habit of acknowledging and appreciating the positive aspects of your life. Our brains are skilled at looking for patterns, and they can become attune to finding the negative patterns to learn things to avoid or be weary of. However, retraining yourself to find the positive instead, can elevate your mood and sense of contentment, even when things may be stressful or challenging. The holidays are a perfect time to start to weave a gratitude practice into your life because there are extra opportunities to find something to enjoy or delight in. There are several ways you can begin to develop this habit.
1.Gratitude Journaling
While many people think of journaling as pulling out a beautiful, hard-bound notebook, this habit can be as simple as writing a list in the Notes App of your phone. Gratitude journaling is the habit of writing down things you are grateful for each day. While you can go as in depth as you want, you can also easily just write the three things you were thankful for each day. Nothing is too small. We’ve heard people share they’re grateful for their family, but also dogs, books, baths, a square of dark chocolate. If you feel grateful for it in your life, it counts.
2. Expressing Gratitude in Relationships
The holiday season often means more events and gatherings with loved ones, friends, and family. During this time, take the time to share and express your appreciation for the people in your life. You could actually thank them for something they’ve done, offer a kind act, or just give them a hug and tell them how happy you are that they are in your life. Again, this can be as simple or as extravagant as you want, but taking the time to appreciate the people you love can help you remember the fullness and richness of your life.
3. Gratitude in Life’s Challenges
Though we’ve been discussing savoring the delight of the winter holiday season, life is not without its challenges, even during the supposedly most wonderful time of year. However, a simple reframe can make these tough times more meaningful. Instead of viewing challenges and setbacks as a hardship, reframing them through a gratitude lens can make them seem more like lessons or opportunities for growth. Acknowledge your feelings around the challenge, but then reflect on how you can view this as a learning experience and how adversity can fuel positive change in your life.
As you navigate the holiday season, consider these practices as ways to enhance your day-to-day well-being, but also as a way to create rich memories of a magical time of year. Mindfulness and gratitude can help you stay present in the moment and find contentment in what you already have, savoring the simple joys of the holidays. Therapy can also be a tool to enhance your life, and the therapists at Reflect Therapy in Houston, Texas are trained professionals that can help you develop any of these skills or work through holiday stressors. Mindfulness and gratitude can be especially helpful during this busy time of the year, but they can also be practices that you use throughout your life to create joy and fulfillment, far beyond the festivities.