A Gift for You! 10 Tools to Take You Through the Holidays

Here's a little gift for all my readers, supporters, friends, family and loved ones...that's you!!! It's from my
soon-to-be-completed book, "Ecstatic Eating!" The tools are from a talk I used to give each year during this time. I hope you enjoy them and that they help you in eating ecstatically and feeling amazing now, into the New Year and beyond!
With Immense Gratitude to Each of You for Being in My life,
Hope

10 Tools to Take You Through the Holidays

1. Take a Breath; Pause between bites:

Notice how much more important the food has become than the connection and conversation.

Know you can have more to eat, and take a breath to engage in conversation.

Introduce yourself to someone you may not know or connect with a dear relative without the clutter of food thoughts taking up space in your brain.

If you are by yourself, take five minutes to do some deep inhales and exhales before going back for more food.

2. Balance your holiday meals with your typical way of eating.

Have at least one meal a day that supports your body with balancing and energizing foods. Have this meal be a meal like the one you would normally eat the other three hundred and sixty four days of the year. If possible, sit quietly by yourself when eating this meal, and really tap into yourself. If you are with others, chew your food slowly and engage in an "active meditation."

3. Surround and honor yourself with some of your Core Foods.

If you are going away for the holidays, bring along a cooler with a few of your "balancing" foods. If you normally eat steel cut oats for breakfast, bring a bag with you. Go to the market the first day you are there, and pick up a few foods that support your normal way of eating.

This does not set you apart from others; in fact, by taking really good care of yourself, it allows for you to truly appreciate the holiday foods that you eat and know they are cooked with love; so eat them and enjoy.

Others may see you eating leafy greens and want to try; let them into your world, too, but don‟t have expectations. This is about taking good care of you.

4. Never skip a meal.

Meals are usually skipped because we are "punishing" ourselves for being "bad" with food; now we must deprive ourselves to pay the piper.

Deprivation promotes unhealthy eating, and ultimately, weight gain and mood imbalance. We want to stay consistent in our eating during this time of year; consistency creates balance.

We are never "bad." We just make choices each day. Honor that whatever food choice you make is the right choice and enjoy your next meal without guilt.

If you are too full to eat your next meal, take a break or eat a smaller portion.

5. Drink water each day.

Increase the amount now. It will both help satiate your hunger and move all the holiday foods through your digestive system.

Notice the difference it makes in your level of energy versus fatigue.

Notice any other changes with mood, desire to eat less and becoming full more quickly. Make a note of these differences in your holiday journal.

6. Engage in one calming, relaxing, balancing practice each day.

Yoga, meditation and deep breathing are a few options. Taking a run, journaling or getting a massage is great, too. Even if you are very busy with holiday shopping, cooking and entertaining, take five to ten minutes early in the morning or at night before bed to just "be" with you.

Do a breathwork/meditation, with some nice, deep inhales and exhales. Get in touch with how your body feels when you allow it to slow down and get "core connected." Notice the rise and fall of your belly as you breathe in deeply; then let it all go. Visualize your favorite place of relaxation; the perfect beach where you vacationed; the top of a mountain or maybe just a special room in your home. Picture yourself standing, sitting or laying down with complete peace in this place. Breathe in and out as you see the image.

You can take this "feeling" and bring it into the rest of your day or night.

The more you give yourself the gift of breath and meditation, the more you will have the energy and focus for the rest of your day.

7. Exercise for thirty minutes each day.

Our bodies were not designed to be sedentary; this is why we have legs!

Exercise this time of year is even more valuable in its ability to balance the mood, as we get our heart rates up and endorphins are released. It facilitates healthy digestion and elimination and balances the new foods
we might be eating. And, it feels good! We are taking care of ourselves and accomplishing something in the process.

If you have an exercise you do regularly, continue with it. If you are out of town and not near your gym, see if you can use a family member‟s guest pass.

Try some winter holiday exercises, like ice skating, snow shoeing or taking a run or cross country ski with someone you haven‟t seen in awhile. If you are in warm climate, go over to the beach and walk or swim, hike in the early morning or tuck a jump rope in your suitcase and do twenty jumps outside.

When you start to hesitate about getting out for your workout and turn to head for the kitchen, put your fleece and sneakers on and head out the door!

8. Make a list of things you‟ve accomplished this year.

As the year closes, we tend to look to resolutions for the New Year. These are all about what we feel we haven‟t done well and want to alter.

Why not stop to see all the wonderful, powerful ways in which we have made forward movement in our lives?

Run through the past year in your mind; what actions, conversations and decisions brought you even a little bit closer to your goals and dreams? Write them down.

Where did you make a difference in another person‟s life?

What did you let go of that allowed you to move forward?

Where did you walk through your fear and venture ahead?

Write down even the smallest of actions…they count just as much!

9. Make a Gratitude list.

What are you grateful for this year?

Who are you grateful for this year?

How has that helped shape your life?

Sometimes even acknowledging a special sunrise or the movement of the trees outside your window can connect you to being present.

10. Language your thoughts positively. I cannot say enough about how our self-talk creates our world.

We are so quick to speak and think negatively about ourselves; this affects how we process our lives and our ability to move forward and move through obstacles.

Instead of saying, "I am bad. I am wrong." try saying, "I made this choice."

Believe it or not, even a simple change in how we speak or think about ourselves can alter the way we feel.

When we say, "I am ugly. I am fat," we are telling our body to process who we are as ugly and fat. The body responds accordingly.

When we allow ourselves to speak with self-love about ourselves and our bodies, we now create a space for change.

Find something you love about your body and say it out loud to yourself.

Remember: There is no "good or bad"; there is only the choice you make at this moment. You can make another one next time.

Bonus Holiday Tools: 11. Get together with one person who knows you, „gets you‟ and appreciates your magnificence!

Have a "sharing" time where you say everything going on for you and hold nothing back, and allow them to do the same. Let yourselves cry, laugh and connect deeply with one another. If you cannot do this in person, call this person on the phone (once a day, if you need to) and let it all out. Then ask them to remind you who you are. A support system is vital. When holiday time thrusts us into a-typical relationship environments, having someone who knows you completely, honors your greatness, loves you without judgment and is your champion for growth and well being is a powerful "grounding" tool for remembering who you are in the rest of your life.

12. Lighten your expectations of others.

This is harder said than done, but is the root of much unneeded suffering throughout the holidays.

If we can "meet people where they are at," we can be present to the quality of spending time with them.

Holiday time is not the time to bring up or "work through" old wounds and deep-rooted conflicts with a family member or friend. It is a time to stay as centered and grounded as possible so that you can feel the gift of connection rather than the painful alienation of emotional separation.

Emotions run high this time of year for everyone. There is plenty of time the rest of the year to engage in those tender familial conversations. If you are struggling, choose someone else close to you to listen and save the deep processing conversations for after the holidays.

Notice how you feel with whatever comes up, and just allow yourself to observe it. Journal on it or share it with your friend. Once you have some distance, you can address it from response, rather than reaction.

Holidays are also a time to be present to love, gratitude and joy. If you can meet your mother, brother or friend "where they are" right now, it will allow you to receive the connection of just being with them.

Remember: They are still who they are; don‟t expect them to be otherwise. It is you who is evolving, which is a gift.

13. Ask for what you need.

This might be a hug, some quiet time, the space to cook one meal of your choosing or anything else that doesn‟t leave you wanting. As Esther and Jerry Hicks say through Abraham, "Ask and it is Given." The more we stuff down our needs, the more the body responds accordingly with food, weight and ill-health.

14. Honor your choices.

Choose powerfully for yourself. Feel joyous about whatever you choose.

Any choice that will leave you tired and depleted, or filled with shame, sadness or anger is not a healthy choice, so choose from your core and with self-love.

Then embrace whatever you choose, and know that it is exactly the right choice at this moment!