HOPE – Page 9 – Daily Muse

If you’re stressed out or singing the holiday blues these days you are not alone.

This time of year it’s common for people to feel lonely, isolated, stressed out or sad.

Here are 6 ways to shift the holiday blues so you can experience the season with JOY!

1. Disconnect

Social media is a wonderful place to connect but the fact is, not everything you see is real. I call it “the face of Facebook”. Everyone is ‘blessed’, ‘grateful’, having an amazing time, happy and joyful. Of course that’s true for some but everyone is human, has challenges, bad days and situations they don’t share. On the flip side there are rants, judgement, anger and downright nastiness. Although we think we are “connected” we are, in fact, disconnected from ourselves. Disconnect from the illusions and the energy on social media that may be affecting you more than you account for and re-connect with yourself.

2. Meditate

Take 5 or 10 minutes (at the very least) to simply breathe, feel your connection with the earth and your energy flow. Check in with yourself. Reconnect with YOU. Daily meditation during the holidays has a cumulative effect. The more you find time to meditate, the smoother your day will be. You could even take it one step farther and actually set the energy of the holidays for yourself. While in meditation, decide what energy vibration you’d like to experience for a particular day and “set” that day. In fact, try doing it today! Set the energy you’d like to experience for today and see what happens. Call it a practice day and we all know, practice makes perfect.

3. Manage Expectations

There is a lot of pressure during the holiday season. We are expected to find the perfect gift, act a certain way, be somewhere on time, be nice etc. There are a plethora of expectations we are supposed to meet and those expectations from others (and the expectations we have for ourselves) put more pressure on us. How you choose to take part in the holidays is totally up to you. To manage expectations check in with yourself and see what YOU need. If you find yourself responding, going to every party, caving to peer pressure to eat drink and be merry when you don’t feel like it, check in with yourself and just notice if you’re answering to the expectations of others or putting undo pressure on yourself with your own expectations.

4. Release the Ghosts of Holidays Past

The holidays can be a challenging, sad and lonely time of year often times because of holidays past. It is inevitable we will be missing a loved one, stressed out by something that happened and remembering fondly, or not so fondly, holidays long past. When holiday memories come up, acknowledge and embrace them. Notice the feeling that accompanies the memory and acknowledge that too. Once you’ve acknowledged the memory allow it to be released. Release the ghosts of holidays past so you are free and have access to all your energy to create beautiful holiday magic in the present.

5. Let Family be Family

Even the happiest of families has its moments. Someone, whether consciously or unconsciously, might invalidate you, compete with you, boss you around or simply push your buttons. Take a breath and find some neutrality. If things get ugly, meet the situation by taking a deep breath, checking in with yourself and remembering they are engaging you because of their own “stuff”. You don’t need to challenge, fight with, prove yourself or engage them. Your neutrality is you taking the “high road” and helps to defuse the situation. You know that saying “peace on earth, good will towards men”? Why not extend a little of that towards family?

6. Find your Magic and JOY!

Connect with your own unique (and powerful) vibrations of magic and joy. Allow the magic and joy to flow through you. Create magical connections and situations. Don’t simply respond to an invitation, do those things that bring YOU joy and are not simply obligations to family and friends. There is a magical, beautiful world out there filled with joy. Allow yours to flow and surround yourself with it.

During the stressful holiday season reconnect with YOU. Take time to breathe. Manage expectations. Allow others to be where they are. Release the ghosts that haunt you. Connect with those you love who may or may not be family and plan a little holiday magic! Sometimes all it takes is to get up close and personal with yourself and others. Cheers to JOY and Magic!~Shine Your Light Debbie

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As the stories and images from 9/11 fill the airwaves we reflect upon not only the events of that day but how those events touched each of our lives in some way. Each and every one of us was affected in some way and each of us has a personal story about that day…. #NeverForget

It was a beautiful sunny day in Chicago on September 11, 2001. I went out for a run and remember how the sun was playfully dancing on the grass, reflecting the crisp blue sky in the mirrored buildings and on the lake. Glancing up at the skyline and marveling at its magnificence I remember feeling happy yet at the same time, there was this nagging feeling I had to get home….

I cut my run short that morning. When I got home, I went into the kitchen ignoring the beeping of my answering machine, grabbed a cup of coffee and came back into the living room where I had left the TV on before I left. Charlie Gibson was on Good Morning America showing a clip of a plane hitting the first World Trade Center building. I thought they were showing a trailer for a new movie coming out. “Are you kidding?” I thought, “Who would make a movie like that?”

In this case, truth is clearly more horrible than fiction. I sat down and watched live as the second plane hit. I went completely numb! This was no movie! It was happening and happening NOW! I sat in stunned silence watching the events in New York, DC & Pennsylvania unfold. Yes, I remember that morning clearly even 10 years later and I’m sure I’m not the only one. All over the world people came together. There was an outpouring of love and it seemed for a moment the world came together as a family.

We honor the victims, survivors and everyone who rose in service on that day and in the days to follow. Our heroes are the firefighters and police who went well beyond the call of duty to save lives. Many of them made the greatest sacrifice…their lives. We feel connected in some way as Americans and it does not matter if we personally knew anyone involved.

We grieve and wrap our arms around all who were directly affected yet who among us was not affected? ALL of us were affected and it is time to put aside our differences and wrap our arms around each other. It is time to stand tall and not turn a deaf ear when we hear stories of terrorism “someplace else in the world” because “someplace else” was New York in 2001. On that day in 2001 we were a family, grieving together, mourning together and watching a real life horror story.

Let us honor and say a prayer for those who died senselessly at the hands of terrorists. Say a prayer and send love and light to those who lost family friends and co-workers. Let us thank and honor those in law enforcement, the Fire Department, the Military and anyone else who stepped up to go beyond the call of duty for their contributions and sacrifice on that day and since that day. It is time to embrace our loved ones, teach tolerance and love and pray for PEACE ON EARTH. ~Shine Your Light Debbie

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