Rest, Reconnect, Restore, and Repair

With all the celebration and possibility of the holiday season sometimes comes the feelings of being overwhelmed, disappointment, or stress. It may feel like “too much” of everything this season.

If the holidays have been stressful, first I send you so much care and love.

And I invite you to take a moment to rest, reconnect, restore, and repair. As you know, the first step to lower stress is to pause. To offer a moment of care to yourself and the people around you. To take a moment to just be… a human Being instead of a human Doing.

At the end of the year we find ourselves in a reflective mood. To aid that reflection, I have written questions below that may inspire you to think about how to care for yourself, mindfully.

Please take a minute to pause and breathe.

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Let these questions and perhaps the answers also be gifts of care to yourself. Allow striving, judgement, guilt or blame to rest. Let these questions connect with your heart – the only place to start healing from. If you want to write the answers down, wonderful. And if you want to reply to me with your responses, I’d love to hear from you. Either way, please give yourself this gift.

What would feel like a rest to you?
A nap? A long weekend? Sleeping in? A stroll with friends with no agenda? Going out to dinner instead of cooking? Being with your loved ones with no plans? There are no “right answers” – just breathe and acknowledge what offers you rest.

How can you get a bit of your rest in the next few days?
Who can help you get this rest? Do you need to schedule it? Can you access it daily? More than once a day? What’s possible for your rest?

Who around you needs a bit of reconnection?
Often, during moments of stress or activity, our most beloved relationships get put in the backseat. Who could use a little loving attention in your life?

How can you give them some of yourself?
What ways can you reach out to them in love and kindness, to offer a bit of reconnection?

What routines do you want to restore now that the holidays are almost done?
A morning walk? Time to meditate? Time to read? What routines can you restore to daily life that may have been lost in the shuffle?

If you felt sadness, grief, or pain this holiday season, how can you begin to repair?
First, with kindness and compassion for yourself and your experience. What words of reassurance, empathy, and love can you express towards yourself as you move through the emotions?
“I am enough.” “I am safe.” “I am loved.”

Again, let these questions and perhaps the answers also be gifts of care to yourself. I look forward to reading your thoughts, and send you so much love for a mindful New Years celebration.

Many thanks,
Geeta

 

Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us.