#Tips #Holidays #De-stress

How can you navigate through the holiday season without feeling bent out of shape? Here are 5 Simple Steps to Help Minimize Stress during the Winter Holidays. Apply these techniques and let me know which ideas work for you. 

1. Look at the green leaves above and breathe easier. I put this theme on my computer monitor, because shades of green refresh my spirit, soothe my eyes, and are thought to increase productivity. Play around with your computer or tablet background color to find colors that relieve eye strain for you. Blinking, looking away from the screen for a few seconds, or taking frequent short breaks from the computer screen are helpful techniques to clear the mind and relieve tension in muscles. According to a recent National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study, discomfort and eye strain were significantly reduced when computer workers took six five-minute "mini-breaks" throughout their work day.
2. Set your priorities to cut down on overcrowded schedules and overtaxed endurance thresholds. Many try to take on gift shopping, card sending, decorating and entertaining, and gift wrapping tasks along with regular responsibilities. Overdoing activities and a racing mind makes for cranky, anxious, and exhausted people. Keep it simple. Celebrate the traditions that really matter to you, or forge new ones that are fun and contribute to your health and happiness. 
3. Quality vs. quantity. "Shopping, especially if you're worried about money or getting elbowed in the stores, can drain the fun out of the holiday season. People who focus on gifts generally feel less holiday cheer than those who spend more time with close friends and family," explains Joanne Barker at WebMD http://www.webmd.com/parenting/family-health-12/reduce-holiday-stress
4. Use a "Worry Tree" or "Worry Place" to let go of those things you can't control. My young single mom friend, Stephanie says that even though she needs to work extra-long hours before the holidays, she feels centered and at ease. Before she enters her home, she brushes or dumps any negativity, worries, fears, and stress she's accumulated during the day onto her worry tree (this can be a tree, scrub, bush, or even a hole in the ground). Once Stephanie enters her home, she sighs, because she has left all her cares outside.
5. Do one thing at a time and stay present for that activity. That's a concept most time management experts and my yoga teacher agrees about. Living in the "now" helps one feel grounded and alive. Happy Holidays everyone. Remember please, don't drink and drive.

The quote for today is. "Tradition implies process and change, the movement of the past into the future, the continual forging of links on an unending chain.

— The Book of Blessings: A Feminist-Jewish Reconstruction of Prayer (1992) by Fanchon Shur(1935- ), American dancer, choreographer