{"id":303,"date":"2012-12-11T21:38:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T02:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/?p=303"},"modified":"2013-02-06T20:16:37","modified_gmt":"2013-02-07T01:16:37","slug":"holiday-stress-again-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/?p=303","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Stress, Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is a well documented fact that the \u201cHoliday Season\u201d is the most stressful time of the year for many people living in the United States.\u00a0 Despite the messages of \u201ccheer\u201d and \u201cjoyfulness\u201d many individuals experience increased depression, anxiety, and stress.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>The reasons for this are varied.\u00a0 Recent losses of significant friends and family through death, divorce and separation or relocation increases one\u2019s feelings of loneliness and isolation.\u00a0 Those feelings stand in conflict with the holiday message of togetherness and gathering. Financial pressures are another reason individuals experience heightened anxiety and hopelessness. \u00a0The commercial message of the holiday is to purchase even when it is beyond our means.\u00a0 The economic situation many are facing today is only increasing this source of stress and desperation. Meeting expectations for perfection that we impose on ourselves add to the whole layered affect of this season.\u00a0 Somewhere in our inner depths we believe our homes need to be perfectly cleaned and decorated, tons of cookies baked, social activities abounding, and every gift on the list bought and wrapped.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not stating anything we don\u2019t already know and haven\u2019t heard a thousand times. Yet, year after year, we repeat the process.\u00a0 Instead of experiencing a joyful season, we secretly wait for it to be over.\u00a0 We close our eyes and hold our breath. We try not to scream.\u00a0 We buffer ourselves against a melt down (or fantasize about a melt down that will remove us from it all.)\u00a0 Natalie Goldberg said,<\/p>\n

Stress is basically a disconnection from earth, a forgetting of the breath.<\/em><\/p>\n

How do we reconnect with the earth?\u00a0 I suggest pausing to remember who we care about in our lives and then find meaningful ways to be with those people. We need to recall our values\u2026what is truly meaningful and valuable.\u00a0 It is important to be realistic as to what we have, what we can give, and what we can do. Then celebrate that we can. We need to be creative, think outside the box, pull ourselves away from the throngs and do it differently.<\/p>\n

How do we breathe?\u00a0 We breathe by pausing.\u00a0 We find our breath when we sit down and listen. We find our breath when we take time to laugh.\u00a0 We find our breath when we relax and become quiet.<\/p>\n

Try this mental exercise<\/strong>\u2026.When you are in the midst of a stressful holiday moment, freeze frame that moment with you in it, and ask yourself, \u201cIs this how I want to remember myself?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDoes this moment represent who I truly am on this earth?\u201d\u00a0 And then, take a long slow breath\u2026\u2026\u00a0 Feel your body move with the breath\u2026\u2026 Feel your body relax with the exhale\u2026\u2026 Hear your breath\u2026… Be mindful of your connection to the earth and the important role you play\u2026… Expect change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is a well documented fact that the \u201cHoliday Season\u201d is the most stressful time of the year for many people living in the United States.\u00a0 Despite the messages of \u201ccheer\u201d and \u201cjoyfulness\u201d many individuals experience increased depression, anxiety, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307,"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions\/307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innerperspectivecounseling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}