To avoid even more stress as you enter the season to be jolly, holiday stress relief expert Lauren E. Miller, provides real tips on how to have more joy and less stress in the midst of the holiday craze.
"Stress is simply a signal within your body giving you an amazing opportunity to identify and adjust your perception of a situation, along with your behavior. We forget that whatever we focus on grows bigger quickly--positive or negative," says Miller.
Miller suggests three quick tips to help you and your clients stay sane in the midst of the insanity:
- Know what you value most in life. When your priorities are clear, decisions are easy. Stress creeps in when you forget what you value most in life. When you spend most of your energy on the nonessentials in life, you begin to feel depleted very quickly and the stress hormones begin to double. Create moments every day that nurture what you value most in this life and notice how quickly clarity of thinking and inner peace return within your being.
- Let go of this belief: "In order to be loved and accepted, I need to be perfect, have the perfect house, tree, job, car, person, family, job, credentials." What is your inner list of requirements in order to feel loved and accepted in life? Let go of your need for certain outcomes around the holidays in order for you to feel good about yourself. Happiness returns when you release the attachments you have in life in order to feel good about you. "Remember, joy flows from the inside out, not the outside in. Start loving yourself completely just as you are, right where you are at," she says. "If you lack it borrow it from God's heart where the supply is limitless."
- Breathe, breathe, breathe and be present to the "Silent, Holy, Night" that dwells within every moment of life. Give yourself the gap of empowerment that comes when you become the observer of your life verses the reactor. Be a curious and fascinated human being who looks at everything before them as an opportunity for learning and growth. When one door closes, don't waste one moment looking at that closed door, start seeking the open window. "Don't miss life, when you worry, doubt and fear; you miss the life standing right in front of your face. When you are present you will laugh more in life which has profound physiological benefits, another wonderful gift to give yourself and those around you this season," she says.
