Debbie WebberAre you preparing to hitch the reindeer to the sleigh and dance into those elfin tights? Or are you already embracing the bah humbug of the silly season? How are you preparing to nurture your health throughout the festive season?
Christmas is that most wonderful time of the year that you either love or loathe. Where it might be a celebration for some, it means additional pressure and increases in stress for others.
Entertaining, gift giving, balancing work, family and play time, regardless of your feelings for the season, can take its toll on our wellness and we believe it’s time we all gift ourselves with something important. At the heart of its true meaning Christmas should be a time to focus on what truly matters to each of us. This might be through participating in both kindness and gratitude. By fostering thoughts of gratitude and generating actions of kindness particularly towards yourself, you can cultivate a healthy mind, body and soul. Gratitude and kindness are two ways to cope with the challenges of Christmas.
At Zen Chi we are about supporting our clients to feel the gratitude and practice feelings of kindness to get through the challenges of Christmas. And our therapists have compiled a list of other suggestions to help you get through the festive season:
Find a quiet place to focus on you. This might be somewhere in your home or garden. Taking time for yourself might mean leaving your home and participating in a yoga class or having a massage. When you make space to find some inner peace and just be held in the moment, you start to reset, calm and regenerate yourself. This helps you think clearer, boost your productivity and gives you an opportunity to make decisions that are in your best interests.
Reframe your thoughts around Christmas by seeing a problem as a challenge that deserves a unique solution. Being able to adjust existing emotional and thought patterns can help you develop a healthier mindset around this time of the year. Holistic Counsellors and therapists that utilise Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can support you to move to a new healthy perspective around the challenges of Christmas if you feel the need to surround yourself with your own personal cheer squad.
Setting boundaries is as much about looking after others as it is about ensuring you take care of yourself. Allowing latitude with your boundaries can also lead to burnout and increased stress levels, so staying firm and respecting your own boundaries is just as important as setting them. Learning to say no to others starts with saying yes to yourself.
Ultimately all of these suggestions are about putting yourself first. To prioritise yourself is not selfish. In fact, it is much easier to do everything for everyone else first then take care of yourself. However, it might be that you have forgotten that you are the most important ingredient in the recipe for “what truly matters” in life. You are what matters most.
As you wrap yourself up as a gift to not only the world but to the one person who matters the most, you will learn to prioritise your health and wellness this Christmas. And you will begin to see a difference in others around you and start to support a new experience of the silly season. Regardless of whether you love or loathe this time of year.
Book your treatment at Zen Chi from now until Christmas and you go into the draw for a beautiful relaxation care pack!
Jacq Koloski
Gerard Bini
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