The holiday season is supposedly “the most wonderful time of the year,” but too often it leaves us broke, exhausted, and with soaring stress levels. With all the cooking, decorating, visiting, and gift giving, the holidays can seem more like trying to meet a high-pressure deadline than a vacation. Oftentimes people feel overwhelmed by the excess, expectations, and become depressed during the holidays.
A favorite Ram Dass quote comes to mind, “If you think you are enlightened, go and spend a week with your family.”
Most of us are aware of the adverse effects that stress can have on our body. It can impact our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and it can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity if left unchecked.
If you are looking for a unique gift for yourself or for a loved one, friend or colleague, you may be interested in the inHarmony Sound Lounge, inHarmony Practitioner, or inHarmony Meditation Cushion. These gifts are an ideal way to show your thoughtfulness by giving gifts that support well-being and achieve peace.
To support you with your meditation practice during the holiday season we created the inHarmony 25 days of Mindfulness:
1 December – Be present: Focus and engage in the here and now, not distracted or mentally absent
2 December – Practice gratitude: Notice good things, savor, absorb, and appreciate them
3 December – Mindfulness: Take your time to slow down and really give attention to one thing at a time
4 December – Listening: Hear what others are saying and try to understand what it means
5 December – Awareness: Be conscious, perceptive, and cognizant of events
6 December – Peaceful: Emphasize tranquility and be free from disturbances
7 December – Savor each moment: Be present in each moment without allowing the next to rob you of its joy
8 December – Enjoy nature: Spend time in nature today, it will heal your mind and nourish your soul
9 December – Focus on breathing: Deep, diaphragmatic breathing to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, calm your mind, lower your heart rate and blood pressure
10 December – Visualization: Condition your brain to see, hear, and feel success in your mind
11 December – Meditation: Achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state
12 December – Improve sleep: Be consistent to reinforce your body's sleep-wake cycle
13 December – Relieve muscle tension: Take time to stretch, take a hot bath, sauna or get a massage
14 December – Increase focus: Enjoy custom music throughout your day from the inHarmony Music Meditations App
15 December – Mental clarity: Engage your active mind to work through problems and stay productive throughout the day
16 December – Elevated mood: Encourage feelings of enthusiasm, well-being, confidence, energy, and success
17 December – Calm your mind: Bring a sense of strength and resilience amid the chaos of life
18 December – Show kindness: Be selfless, caring, compassionate, and unconditionally kind today
19 December – Rejuvenate the body: Restore your physical, emotional, or mental strength to a more healthy condition
20 December – Quiet the mind: Reduction of internal self-talk and invite feelings of spaciousness and quietude
21 December – Share healing energy: Balance vital energy flow through the body to reduce stress, reduce anxiety, and promote well-being
22 December - Aromatherapy: Use essential oils to trigger positive feelings, thereby relieving stress and anxiety
23 December – Gracefulness: Practice a simple act of loving-kindness
24 December – Acts of kindness: Offer kindness towards someone today
25 December – Mindful gratitude: Appreciation for another's kindness - this can be gifts, help, or another form of generosity to another person
If you enter the holiday season with intention and make mindfulness and meaning a priority, then December can be stress-free. To support you in the race up to Christmas, inHarmony recommends practicing mindful activities each day.