It’s around this time of year that you get A LOT of distractions which interfere with health and well-being. I call them distractions because they distract you from your true state of being, which is naturally and simply a state of clarity and peace. The increase in sensory stimulation, advertising, family issues, social and societal pressures, and cultural expectations can be quite disruptive not only to the mental and emotional state, but also to physical wellbeing. The “have to’s”, “should do’s”, “can’t do’s” and “not enough” self talk can turn simplicity into complexity.
When life gets complicated, there is excessive mental activity. Your energy and attention can tend to go to these meaningless mental processes rather than to the most incredible and most important intelligence system you have - the heart. In the past decade or 2, there has been a lot of research into the workings of the heart intelligence system (the heart brain) which validates what Traditional Chinese Medicine has known for centuries. The heart has it’s own neurological system independent of the cephalic (head) brain. The heart brain allows us to make decisions and respond from a place of love and truth. It is also an important powerhouse for energising the body and keeping in balance the physical and psychological aspects of being. It allows us to be kind and loving to ourselves and others. That sounds like the spirit of Christmas right there, yet why does Christmas often bring so much stress to people? Is it because of all these distractions that contribute to complexity rather than allowing a relaxation into simplicity?
Plain and simple, anything which impacts your mental and emotional state of being will have a knock on effect to your physical wellbeing. Mental and emotional frequencies sit in your energy field (your body bubble) and inform the body’s physiology to react appropriately. Therefore if you are having a complexity of thoughts and emotions, the body might respond with confusion and stress. Brain imaging has shown that physiologically a brain will respond to overwhelm in the same way that it responds to trauma. Therefore, if you want to feel a sense of wellbeing, it will help to avoid overwhelm by keeping things simple so that you can focus your mind and emotions on fostering peace, love and joy. There are many things that we can do to foster well-being at this time of the year: Here are my top ten tips to keep it simple and treat yourself like a sweetheart:
Start each day by checking in with yourself: How does your body feel? How does your heart feel? How is your spirit? Are you energised or tired? Is today a day that you need to go slow or are you excited to dive into your day and your to-do list? Is there something that you need to get off your mind or your chest?
Focus on what matters: Make a note or a reminder to yourself to do that thing or the things that matter most to you. Reward yourself with appreciation when you achieve it.
Use the power of the pen: If you are feeling out of sorts, take a few minutes to write about your emotions or mental challenges and ask your higher self to guide you to a solution as you write.
Prioritise: List down all the things that you want to or need to do, and cross off the things that are not important or urgent. You can re-visit them later if you have to/want to/need to.
Work with bite size pieces: If there are any important or urgent activities that feel too complicated or too big, break them down into small simple steps. Write these down and cross them off as you go. You will also get more of a dopamine hit when you do this. Every time you achieve a goal, it triggers off the pleasure and reward feelings which help with a sense of wellbeing. I use an app called Todoist which allows me to list my jobs for any particular day whenever they pop into my mind. I can tick them off when I have completed them. I find this helps to prevent overwhelm when I have a lot of things to do, it ensures I don’t forget things - if I remember to check it ;-) and it gives my brain a break from having to hold so much information.
Create sacred space for yourself: Schedule in time each day to take some space from others and from your responsibilities and commitments. You can decide the amount of time - 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour and how often you need it. Use this time for quiet reflection, taking long and slow deep breaths, attuning to your heart intelligence. You can call this meditation, you can call it creative space, restoration time, time out, a self appreciation installment, whatever is going to inspire you to do this. It is amazing the things you remember and the clarity that can drop in when this space is created in your day.
Let go: Do a stress audit on yourself and write down all the things that cause you stress. Let go of your mental chatter and remember that you are a powerful soul that can exercise choice. With the intention to take the path of higher knowing, decide what you want to do about these stresses. If it helps, picture yourself viewing the stressful scenario from above and use your intuitive vision to see how you want this scenario to play out. You may also want to imagine standing in the shoes of a mentor or someone you admire and watch what they might do about this stress.
Let love lead: Show love to the people who are special to you and do it in ways that bring you joy. The more you practice being the expression of love, the more love and joy you will receive. Attune to the question, “what would love do now?” and trust that your heart will guide you in simplicity.
Clear your clutter: The clutter in your physical environment can reflect a cluttered mind and both of these things can add to complexity in life. The more “stuff” you have, the more you have to consider and work around, or work with. Congestion and ill health in the body can be the result of congestion of thoughts and emotions. The physical act of clearing out the clutter in your environment can catalyse letting go of the things you don’t need - on so many levels of your being! Observe what your mind does when you consider letting go of something. You might learn just how much complexity lies within.
Consider the illusions of “not enough”: There is a mass cultural mindset of “not having enough” and “not being enough”, that is driving many complex behaviours and poor choices. These attitudes can subtly work their way into self doubt, causing angst, or into over-eating, causing stress, or into over purchasing, causing regret, or into doing too much, causing exhaustion, or into financial worries, and the list goes on. Is there a “not enough” behaviour that you do that you want to re-pattern? What would you do or choose instead?