9 Ways to Have a More Mindful Holiday Season
Holidays can be both a glorious and nerve-racking phase of the year. Pre-planning for vacations is joyous and is more like a source of eternal peace.
What are 9 Ways to practice mindfulness?
Tempering your Expectations for Mindfulness
Tempering expectations refers to lowering the expectations of others. Rather than relying upon others, expecting them to do what you want is purposeless. Therefore, it's better to accept reality. Someday, you will surely realize that it's crucial for you and others, too.
Generally, everyone wants desirable outputs, and they set higher expectations from people. The situation gets worse when the outputs are different from what they expected. Therefore, we can easily cope with such sudden scenarios by intentionally tempering our expectations. Before this situation arises, we need to temper our expectations to enter a state of mind where we can deal with the problems in a more organized and sophisticated manner.
Self Judgement is an Essential Component
Self-judgement is a state of being critical and analytical about yourself. Especially during holidays, we have enough time to consider whether we are doing right or wrong and can make up for our mistakes. Some people often think self-judgment is being harsh on yourself self, but no, it's not truly like that. It's looking up for mistakes and analyzing how to improve yourself.
Let go of Your Judgment of Others.
It's not possible that people would also like what you like. Therefore, it's preferable not to be judgemental in others' cases because our priorities may be different from theirs. How can we force our desires on them?
Honor the Boundaries
Honoring your boundaries is honoring yourself. Setting up your limits and boundaries can initially feel difficult, but as time passes, you will be grateful that you discovered your safe spot. Setting up your limits gives a sense of freedom, boosts your self-respect, and enhances your self-esteem.
You can only honor your respective boundaries by not breaching and violating them. When you start respecting your boundaries, it eventually leads to tempering expectations that prevail in the sense of mindfulness. Emotional and physical well-being is also related to honoring your boundaries. These limits help you control your emotions, like anger and frustration. Sudden tragedies and incidences may occur, but when we know our boundaries, we can cope with any situation without showing extreme emotions. Moreover, limiting yourself to some particular boundaries also enhances the efficiency of your brain.
If you are interested in knowing more about setting up your boundaries we have an exclusive edition of Brene Browns' podcast, Unlocking Us, and this blog post from PsycheCentral.
Pen down your Schedules
Making weekly schedules during holidays is the best way to remember your pending work. You can make up your daily to-do list and draw out a schedule for a whole week. In this way, you can be more productive, and your mind will be stress-free from the stress of unmanageable work. Schedules make life more organized and also teach time management. You must prefer writing down your schedules in your journal.
Remember to add healthy meals, movement, and self-care to your to-do lists. If we make plans for everything, we will eventually complete it. In this way, we can maintain a balance between the tasks completed and the tasks incompleted.
There is no particular time for making a schedule; you can make yours anytime you find it convenient. Some prefer making a schedule before bed so that their day starts in an organized way.
Meditation is the source of peace.
One of the best ways to overcome increasing stress in daily life is meditation. Meditation eliminates all the stress from the body and restores the inner peace of the body. Stress puts the body into an anxious and nervous state; however, meditation helps facilitate the body's return to normal functioning, embedding a lot of happiness and calmness in the body.
Meditation prevails a sense of calmness and peacefulness, keeping the body balanced. Meditation, along with stress management, also controls emotional and physical well-being. If you are choked up with stress, try to take 5-10 minutes daily for meditation.
Various types of meditation include Meditation—breathwork, guided imagery, and body scan. Meditation is done on its own, and if you are looking for an authentic application, you can opt for Headspace or Calm.
Incorporating Mindful Movement
Movement is the source of bringing calm, focus, and strength to our extremely busy minds. Daily life's hectic routine can cause the mind to be fully tired and frustrated.
Therefore, to ensure mindfulness, mild exercise, brisk walking, yoga, and stretching are some great options to consider. Such gentle movements release stress and tension, leaving the brain calm and relaxed.
Yoga and mild walking can also be good ways of meditation. These are great sources to lower stress and bring the body and brain to a more stable and peaceful state. It also enhances our mood and increases (endorphin) the happiness chemical in the body that keeps the mood fresh and stress-free.
Eating food for enjoyment
Savoring our food and controlling breathing is a very effective way to practice mindfulness, but it also elevates proper digestion, a process of the body. Food is an essential need of the body. Without adequate consumption of food, survival is not possible. However, rather than eating food for a living, what if we eat food for pleasure?
Eating food for pleasure is another very effective way to practice mindfulness. Eating food that you like can give you a sense of peace and also reduce your stress. We can also go for a deep-breath session before having a meal. It helps increase the metabolism, and the food is only consumed in adequate amounts, preventing bloating and overeating. Holidays are a great time to prefer food for pleasure and enjoyment because we have enough time to enjoy delicious meals, parties, treats, and food with friends. Pleasure ultimately relieves stress and enhances the mindfulness of the body.
What if you like loneliness, don't prefer gathering, how will you have pleasure with food as Eating alone? Feels boring and joyless! Then it's completely wrong to think so, as you have a great opportunity to give yourself enough time for having pleasure alone, spending time in self-love and meditation. You can serve yourself with your favorite food sources, and enjoy exotic desserts and pleasant drinks.
Such a thing gives a sense of joyousness and cheerfulness that leads to mindfulness and satisfaction prevailing within the inner self.
Practicing Gratitude
Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness. People often prefer gratitude over important things like home, health, family, and money. However, practicing gratitude over minor and small things in life elevates a sense of satisfaction and thankfulness for every little to a big thing. It also creates a sense of positivity, a source of eternal peace that keeps your mind and body relieved. Those who practice gratitude are more likely to be happy than those who are used to complaining about everything. Hence, gratitude has a therapeutic impact on the soul.
Focusing on your people
Some people usually have a special place in their hearts. Always try to express your love and affection to people who are important to you. Spending leisure time with them, carving memories, having fun-filled banters, and sharing special moments can make you feel the most relaxed and peaceful. The company of your special person can always make you feel comfortable and chilled out. It improves your mindfulness, and happiness is doubled.
Don’t let perfection stand in the way.
Vacations can be challenging if one tries extremely hard to attain peace and practice mindfulness. But what if instead of having peace, one is being overstressed and is not able to have relaxation? You should remember one thing: seeking perfection is not that important. Mindfulness is just a source to keep the mind and body relaxed, but if it doesn't work out for you, then this is not a big thing; you can still go for some mind and body relaxation and invest time in self-compassion.
Hope you wrap up the bundle of joy during your holiday season.
Need a bit of extra support this holiday season when it comes to your health and wellness? Or know someone else who would? Reach out to one of our nutritional practitioners, and we will build a personalized plan to make sure you are feeling your best during this busy time of year.
