The holiday season can be stressful for many of you. Due to its hectic nature and demands (many of them self imposed) it is common for people to get out of balance. That, combined with being around family members who may still be living by old conditioning and belief systems that do not match who you are and whose presence may very quickly bring to the surface unresolved hurts, is a recipe for getting triggered and reactive. Most enlightening human beings later feel great remorse for having that response and can be quite hard on themselves, indeed.
If you did get triggered during the holidays, the first thing to do is to simply forgive yourself. Understand this is a part of you that is seeking your love and compassion. What does that part of you need from you? Take the time to sit with it, to love it, to reassure it, to give it compassion and a safe space to be heard. The last thing that part of you needs is for you to be berating yourself. It needs your love and guidance, and that is well within your capability to give to yourself.
Taking the time to tend to yourself first, with love and compassion, is the first step to being able to keep your balance during future holidays. Next, examine how you might have allowed yourself to get out of balance. Did you take on more than you should have? Did you over give and not allow yourself to receive assistance? What did you take on that really wasn’t necessary? How could you have improved your self care? Now is the ideal time to reexamine how you handle holidays and to move them into a better balance.
