We move towards the end of the year, many of us are tired and ready for a break. However, this is the time of the year that we get to connect with others. Often this means stretching our inner selves with the range of obligations, fun and festivities.
We can bring our sense of fun to these events – while also remembering to gently guard our energy and heart.
Some of these times are fun and light hearted and other times these are events that cause us to defend and guard ourselves.
Practice perhaps bringing a cloak of un-offendable to these events – if you have tricky people to navigate these festivities with. We can choose how we moderate energy in life and we can skilfully choose how we interact and when we do. Perhaps this looks like limiting the time with certain people. It can mean practicing the art of discernment. You can choose how you show up, how you respond and how you hold your power.
If you are end of year tired but love the people you are seeing- you too can still guard your energy gently. Don’t be everything to everyone. Love doesn’t just come from being action focused and helpful. It can come from quiet presence and a smiling heart.
In these times, activate some self care.
Support your physical self. Moderate the food and alcohol. If you choose to indulge, do so with graciousness. Enjoyment can take many forms. Start to speak to your heart and your body and ask it how it wants to celebrate. You may find a new understadning of what you need and what you think you need.
Tend to your financial self- take your savvy self shopping and know that your gifts are tokens of love, not actual love. Gift giving can be joyous or excruciating- depending open your deeper program that is running. Choose to create a different pattern of giving and receiving. Take sometime to get clear, define your budget and stick to it. If indulgence joins you at Christmas, ask yourself to moderate it so you are not left with a financial hangover that you will carry into the new year.
Then spend some quiet time gathering up all your gratitudes. Often it is this quiet moment of pausing and intentionally picking up all the joy that has been placed in your field over the year that can make the difference between a life well lived and loved and a life that feels wanting.