Can you feel it? Here it comes, the holiday’s busy buzz of activities, parties, gatherings, and events galore. We all love to celebrate, but we sometimes feel exhausted and less excited than we’d like to be at this time of year (maybe even crabby to those we love). Why is it that these supposedly precious and magical times end up zapping all of our energy?

Could it be that our expectations are the root of this and perhaps our own expectations? I have decided this year will be different. I want to enjoy the time with my loved ones. I want to laugh and be merry without the stress. I want to squash those silly expectations of perfection and embrace the gritty goodness instead. Is it possible? Let’s find out.

What if we all just used gentleness with everything we do this season? I mean really love yourself up, spread on the inner love so thick that you are covered with it, that you drip the love everywhere. How would that change how you and I experience the next few months?

It’s simple. Just be gentle. Be gentle with yourself. So gentle and ginger, like you would treat a sick child or pet. Nurture yourself up and down again. Say the things you always want to say but don’t. Be the juicy, gentle spirit and make people wonder what you’re up to.

G.E.N.T.L.E

G: Gratitude

When you find yourself grinding your teeth at the thought of yet another social event or party on your schedule when all you really want to do is curl up on the couch, feel the gratitude instead. Just 3 minutes spent counting our blessing actually changes the permeability and structure of your brain. This gratitude thinking is a kind of meditation. According to a NY Times article, How Meditation May Change Change the Brain, studies have shown, “…there are structural differences between the brains of meditators and those who don’t meditate.” And now a new study shows that gray matter actually grows in meditation. How cool is that? NOT thinking actually grows your brain, too. You don’t need a special pillow or a half an hour. You don’t need to sit in a lotus position and chant to meditate on gratitude. I like to do my gratitude meditation as I’m moving through my day–when I’m in the shower, while brushing my teeth, when I pull on a soft and warm sweater in the morning, or as I pet my dog before I run out the door.

There are many ways to guide your gratitude meditation. Thinking about the people closest to you and what you love about them can be one way. Here are a few favorite affirmations I use when I’m feeling that inner Scrooge:

• I am blessed for all my gifts.
• I feel the support and love of my community.
• I am taken care of no matter what.
• I love how fresh our magical winter wonderland feels.

E: Enjoyment

This time of year is supposed to be fun but why is it that most people struggle with the blues and blahs during this time of year? In her Psychology Today article Dr. Teresa Aubele states, “Happy thoughts and positive thinking, in general, support brain growth, as well as the generation and reinforcement of new synapses, especially in your prefrontal cortex (PFC), which serves as the integration center of all of your brain-mind functions.” So, what we choose to think about, what we enjoy, and what we experience as fun is, well, actually good for us. So take that scrooge!

Also, less light affects your brain’s chemistry too, which can lead to feeling a bit down or low energy. You may just need to supplement with vitamin D3 when you are getting less sunlight.

N: Notice How You Feel

Is your jaw grinding at night? Are you shoulders permanently living at your ears? Does your stomach ache? Are you feeling rushed or irritated? Don’t try to fix it or manage it. Solve it. Just notice how it feels and be aware of it. By noticing and becoming aware, you create a shift. It’s normal to have feelings, emotions, and physical manifestations of stress. The question is, now that you are aware of them, what do you want to do?

Increasing your awareness does so many things. It allows you to be more open, more insightful, more connected, and to integrate all the parts of yourself (mind/body/spirit), which leads to a more balanced and beautiful you.

T: Take a Risk and Get Vulnerable

This time of year we are often around family and people we may, or may not, feel that close to. Letting our vulnerability show takes courage and feels scary at first, but it is really the only way to live. Take a chance this holiday season and do something that takes you outside of your comfort zone. Buy a stranger a coffee. Reach out someone you know who needs extra support right now with a phone call or lunch. Simply smile at someone.

You don’t have to know what you are doing. Take a tip from sociologist and researcher Brené Brown, one of the most admired people on the planet right now (for good reason). She has spent the past ten years studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame. She encourages us to practice being vulnerable every day. If you haven’t seen her TED talk on vulnerability, check it out today. It will change your life.

L: Let love lead you.

“We need to go after love with all our might and act as if we cannot live without it!”

I love this quote by Joyce Meyer in her article on how “Love Changes Everything.” If you are not familiar with Meyer, she is a New York Times bestselling author researching and writing about finding hope and restoration through faith. She is a lead pastor who teaches on a number of topics with a particular focus on the mind, mouth, moods, and attitudes.

When we let love lead us, it takes a bit of the self focus out of the way and brings a sense of play and whimsy to life. Everything comes down to this: love is what we are all searching for and want to experience. So when life gets a bit complex, or wildly busy and nutty, just reset your yourself with thoughts of love.

I think The Beatles said it best, “All we need is love.”

E: Energy Reboot

Lets be honest, more requires more. It is okay to call a time out and say so. Have a night in during this busy season of more socializing, more giving, more expression (more, more, more) for some self care and restoration. It is just what you need to reboot. Here are a few of my favorite things to replenish and refuel that tank:

• Bathe with essential oils (5 drops of lavender, 2 drops of ylang-ylang, 2 of rosewood)
• Drink a cup of tea (my favorite is Berry Detox by Yogi tea or the aveda comforting tea)
• Watch a ridiculous episode of 2 Broke Girls (stream for free on your laptop)
• Enjoy a massage or facial
• Read a great book and lose myself in it (The Rosie Project is my current fave)
• Play with my dog (she loves playing catch with her plush animals)
• Listen to some good tunes (Rocking on Gwen Stefani’s latest or Michael Jackson always does the trick)

What’s your go to thing? What do you like to do that you know will give you an inner glow of ahhhhh. Make a list and post it somewhere to remind you that there are so many ways to be gentle with yourself and reboot. Practice these things daily (one, or more, might be just what the doctor ordered). Not only does this essential self care give to us, it really is a gift to our whole community. When we feel better so does everyone around us!

Let me know how you showed your gentleness this season. It takes courage and love to do so, but you deserve it.

So you’ve eaten your fill and then some. Maybe you had about seven too many glasses of wine or beer. Between the cranberry sauce, the sweet potato casserole, the eggnog, the pies, the cookies, the candy, the punch, and the alcohol, you’ve ingested more sugar in one day than you usually eat in a month. Did you know that eating refined sugar, even small amounts of any refined sugar (but especially conventional sugar), will cripple your immune system for 48-72 hours? In addition, bad bacteria, viruses, and Candida love sugar. It feeds them! So while you’re binging on sweets, they’re having their own little party and mass multiplying. Not only are your defenses down for the pathogens already in your body, it’s flu and cold season and you are being bombarded with pathogens every single day. Here are a few things you can do to help your immune system bounce back faster.

Repopulate Your Gut With Healthy Bacteria

The first and most important action you can take is to eat nutrient dense, prebiotic foods to aid your gut in its efforts to regain proper balance. Eat lots of whole, fresh, raw vegetables and fruits (more vegetables than fruits). The healthiest diet consists of 80% fresh, raw, organic produce each day. The fiber helps to cleanse the gut and it provides the best environment for healthy, beneficial bacteria to thrive.

You may need to be eat probiotic foods as well, fermented foods that will help repopulate the beneficial bacteria. Consider probiotic supplements, too. Supplements that kill Candida, like undecylenic acid, will be beneficial as well.

Support Your Immune System With the Right Food and Supplements

In addition to prebiotic and probiotic foods, there are several foods that will aid your immune system in fighting pathogens.

Garlic is antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral, without harming beneficial bacteria. Add raw garlic to your salads or your salad dressing to get the most benefit.

Oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, kiwis, mangoes, papayas, strawberries, pineapple, red peppers, green peppers, chili peppers, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and kale are all great sources of vitamin C. If you would like to supplement with vitamin C, try saving your organic citrus peels! Simply dehydrate them and grind them up.

Echinacea and vitamin D also strengthen the immune system.

Get Enough Sleep, Exercise, and Water

Of course, you should always make sure to get enough sleep and exercise. Too often during the holidays we push ourselves too far, too fast, trying to please everyone, and ignoring our own needs. The one thing a four-day holiday weekend gives us is the time to relax and the time to catch up on sleep.

Go for walks, dance, tumble with the kids or grandkids, use a rebounder, or jump rope. Do something to get your lymph moving. And squat! Do bodyweight squats. They not only build total body strength; squats also benefit internal organs, and they cause the body to produce large amounts of beneficial hormones.

This is also a good time to drink lots of water. Or, even better, try the cranberry stevia lemonade recipe (see the first source link below).

Step by Step

We have a tendency to ignore our health around the holidays, putting it off good behavior for our New Year’s resolutions. If you take really good care of yourself for the next few days or the next week, you may find you like the added benefit of more energy, fewer aches and pains, and a happier digestive system. Maybe you might just roll on into the next holiday right through to New Year’s with a resolution to make this change permanent instead of temporary.

1. Eat salads with lots of vegetables and fresh garlic
2. Eat 80% raw fresh produce
3. Do body-weight squats (if you can’t squat, try sitting and standing repeatedly with a chair)
4. Kill Candida and balance your inner eco-system
5. Bullet Proof your immune system
6. And last but not least, drink lots of water!

Recommended Supplements:

• Coptis chinensis
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin C
• Shillington’s Total Tonic
• Shillington’s Echinacea+

Further Reading:

• Make Your Own Total Nutrition Formula
• How to Make Homemade Vitamin C
• How to Cure Candida
• How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem
• After taking antibiotics, this is what you need to do to restore healthy intestinal flora
• Inexpensive, Easy Detox – The One Gallon Challenge
• Make Your Immune System Bulletproof with These Natural Remedies
  
• 80% Raw Food Diet

My personal desire for a very simple life without clutter aside, I cringe when I think about the masses upon masses of pure plastic junk that is produced in our country year after year after (gift giving) year and despite the fact that I’ve made it a pre-holiday tradition to express to family members and close friends that I would love to enjoy a simple holiday gathering without the {near insane} hassle of obligatory buying for everyone, we still manage to drive home every year with a car-load of ‘goods.’

A few years ago, I accompanied a friend to their family’s holiday gathering.  Since I wasn’t really close to any attending family members, gift exchange was nowhere near the front of my mind.  Mid-way through the festivities, people began breaking out beautifully decorated packages~ I was so happy and content to sit back and simply watch.  My friend’s aunt (who I adore and who was also hosting the party) quickly noticed my non-participating stance and, wanting me to feel ‘a part’ of the exchange, grabbed a nearby snoring Santa statue and~ to my {slightly amused} horror~ presented it to me as a gift.  Naturally, I graciously accepted ‘snoring Santa’…and, to this day, my friend and I still occasionally indulge in a hearty laugh over the whole ordeal.  ‘Snoring Santa’ found a new home with the quickness.;)

Gift-giving. Rarely do we engage in an activity that solicits such a tangle of thoughts and values.

Of course, ‘snoring Santa’ hasn’t been the only gift that I’ve rerouted under-the-radar. There have been countless gifts from countless holiday gatherings that have failed to make it inside our home. Many (if not most) find a new home almost instantly. My personal desire for a very simple life without clutter aside, I cringe when I think about the masses upon masses of pure plastic junk that is produced in our country year after year after (gift giving) year and despite the fact that I’ve made it a pre-holiday tradition to express to family members and close friends that I would love to enjoy a simple holiday gathering without the {near insane} hassle of obligatory buying for everyone, we still manage to drive home every year with a car-load of ‘goods.’

How important, really, is gift giving? And, HOW MUCH do we really need?? One of my favorite memories as a child was listening to my mom read The Little House on the Prairie book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was drawn to a simple way of living even then and vividly recall Laura’s description of their family’s Christmas. In general, after a long trip to the nearest town, ‘Pa’ would typically have enough left over, after buying needed supplies, to bring each child a stick of candy…and there was one Christmas, in particular, where they were snowed in for months—receiving makeshift gifts and finally enjoying their Christmas meal months later. It was all accepted with a spirit of appreciation for what they did have and the time that they were able to spend together. I adore this variety of rustic gratitude…{much so.}

Now, instead of waking up on Christmas morning to a new pair of socks or a bag of rock candy, children fully expect to be greeted by a slew (a fairly LARGE slew) of bags and boxes.

{sigh.}

On one hand, obligatory gift buying and giving long ago crossed a boundary into a consumer-centered, wasteful holiday tradition that is in desperate need of a lil’ shape-shifting.

The desire to delight your child, grandchild, niece or nephew with the latest and greatest game or toy runs right up against the {very likely} scenario of the toy in consideration being poorly made in another country, lacking in long-term play value, and being composed of umpteen plastic parts (most of which will be eaten by the vacuum or end up in the nearest landfill by the following month).

On the other hand, it is such a pleasure to make or buy a special gift and give it to someone you love with the purest desire to do so.

Either way, even if the act of wildly exchanging gifts is unlikely to change any year soon within your ‘circle of giving,’ there is one strategy that can cut through the conflicts of gift giving and make for much less of a burden~ both for recipients who might not share your unique tastes, and for our planet! This particular purposeful focus hums to the subtle tune of simplicity and freedom from choking consumerism…and~ just as diggable~ makes shopping more enjoyable…in one word:

Consumables!!!

A consumable gift is one that will be used up, one that is not ‘stash-able’ until the next yard sale or thrift shop drop-off…it is not a material thing, a ‘keepsake,’ decoration, trinket; it is not on the fast and savvy track to adding to the clutter section of one’s sacred space. A consumable is anexperiential gift. It is something that will be enjoyed by the recipient…yet, will have an end;). Something to eat, something to read, something to bake, somewhere to go……

Let’s begin with the little ones. I know from experience that a huge plastic art set lacks the play miles that come along with a simple pad of drawing paper and a nice set of colored pencils. Likewise, instead of a huge ensemble of toy pots, pans, pretend food and packaging, go for a baking mix or a certificate for a mom & daughter cooking class. Books are always a perfect gift for a child~ they can be read over and over, supporting quality family together time and, when no longer enjoyed, can easily be donated to the local library or thrift store.

Edibles are a no-brainer. The holiday gift industry is well aware of the ‘for everyone appeal’ of themed packaged food. However, before dishing out for a box of stale crackers, spread and salty meat~ consider creating your own bag of fresh and natural eats…or even a food share at a local farm or farmer’s market.

For your parents? Forget passing along more ‘crafty pieces’ for their already full house. Give them tickets to a play, movie or a certificate for dinner at a local restaurant. Candles, note cards & stamps, soap, lotion, supplies for a project they’ve wanted to complete are all good ideas…or maybe a membership to a fitness center or ‘food/wine/fruit/chocolate of the month’ club.

For a close friend or lover~ get creative! Plan an entire night or outing, include a massage, yoga session or other stress-relieving engagement—or simply orchestrate a relaxing evening at home.

Package up homemade trail mix, fresh fruit or an assortment of teas for colleagues and friends.

Again, think experience! The possibilities are endless and it’s typically much more satisfying (for all involved, really) to piece together unique, useful offerings than it is to pack the trunk full of highly commercialized, ‘one size fits all’ gift bombs.

Cheers to preserving both our planet and our sanity…one [small, consumable] gift at a time 😉 .