Article:

Be brilliant this holiday season!

By Sue Frederick,
author of Dancing at Your Desk

If you're like most of us, you've had some great holiday seasons and some "pitiful" ones too. These five easy steps will guarantee happy holidays this year for you and your loved ones:

1. Dream it Big!

Starting today, spend five minutes everyday picturing exactly how you want your holiday season to go. Here are some ideas: Abundant money in your checking account; stress-free shopping trips; easy home-cooked meals that delight your guests; laughter and warm feelings between family members; a sense of peace and well-being.

Why do we need to dream it first? We are creative beings, and we create with our dreams. Most of us spend far too much time imagining what we don't want to happen - and thus attracting it with the magnetic power of our thoughts. The quantum physicists tell us that our world and ourselves are made of nothing more than waves of vibrating light, and that our thoughts and dreams have energy which affect those waves of light.

This year take the holiday challenge: When you find yourself picturing a stressful or lonely holiday season, instead dream of what you want to happen.

If you spend only 5 minutes a day seeing happiness, love and ease throughout the holiday season, I guarantee it will be your best holidays yet. Become a scientist to your own life and try this experiment. You have nothing to lose but the holiday blues.

2. Do Three Happy Things:

Do three things every day that make you happy and improve your energy. These can be big things like swimming laps. Or they can be little moments like laughing with a friend or having a cup of your favorite tea. During the holidays, we get caught up in other people's expectations. Bring your focus back to you and what you need to do to be happy.

Having positive (even joyful) energy during the holidays is the best gift you can give your family and friends. Happy memories are made from the emotional fabric of our time together - not the physical details like the clean house, perfect meal or expensive gift.

When we focus on the details of life, we lose our perspective on what's truly important, and we get "pitiful." We feel angry, stressed, afraid, depressed, overwhelmed or disappointed. All of these emotions are at the low end of our energy continuum; they are our "pitiful" selves.

Nothing good happens when we're being pitiful. If we're reacting to a situation or person that we don't like, we're letting our circumstances dictate who we are. When we're focused on what we want to happen instead, we're gaining control of our lives and no longer being victims. As soon as we make this emotional shift, better circumstances are on their way.

Start each day of this holiday season with these two questions:
What do I want to happen today?
What can I do today to get my energy higher on my continuum?

Truthful answers will guide you to the best holidays you've ever experienced - in spite of your circumstances.

3. Drop the History! (No more ghosts of Christmas past!)

Imagine you're from another planet, and you've just landed here. You're looking around at holiday celebrations in awe - like a child seeing them for the fist time. You're excited and curious with no past reference point as to whether you like these strange celebrations or not.

Without past disappointments or "greatest moments" to reflect back on, you no longer have a "story" about the holidays. That old pitiful story has been a heavy weight dragging you down. Let it go. You're starting from scratch now.

Finally, you're back to the only question that matters: "What do I want to happen?" Keep focusing on your future, and not your past, by asking that question.

4. Laugh Outrageously:

We all know, but often forget, that humor is one of our greatest gifts. Genuine laughter is probably the most powerful tool we have to instantly feel better. When facing a challenging moment, we can focus on the problem and sink to the lower end of our continuum. Or we can see what's funny about the situation and feel our energy instantly improve. When we make other people laugh, the world gets significantly better for everyone - including us!

When your family or friends are annoying you, take a moment to see what's ridiculous about the situation. There's a lot of wonderful comedy taking place right in front of your eyes - even in the worst of circumstances. Appreciate it!

Our humor reveals the absurdity of life. It reminds us of the bigger picture - which is truly a hoot! This is quite a ridiculous drama we're all participating in, and laughter makes it more fun for everyone. At least once an hour, use your divine talent for laughter to make difficult moments easier.

5. Be Relentlessly Grateful:

So you didn't get the silk robe you really wanted. Or your mother-in-law is talking non-stop and driving you crazy. Take a moment to find something about the moment that you can be grateful for.

For example, if you have a loving relationship with your partner, focus on that instead of the gifts. Or perhaps your mother-in-law was the most helpful person in your life after your children were born. Focus on that.

In spite of what we may have been taught, focusing on what's wrong with our loved ones, or with our circumstances, only makes things worse. What we focus on gets bigger, because our thoughts give it energy.

One of the quickest ways to shift your perspective for the better is by feeling gratitude. When you focus on what you're grateful for in a person, relationship or situation, things shift for the better. Suddenly you feel happier and your energy moves higher on your energy continuum. Shifting your perspective this way immediately attracts better relationships and circumstances into your life.

For five minutes each day in December, focus on what you're grateful for - until that's all you can see.

If you follow these five steps, you WILL have the best holidays of your life - in spite of your circumstances. What a gift that will be to your friends and family - and especially to your fine unpitiful self.

 

Reprinted from Nexus: Colorado's Holistic Journal - www.nexuspub.co

 

Sue Frederick is a career counselor, energy coach, author and lecturer. She is the founder of BrilliantDay Revolution Network and teaches workshops and classes at Naropa University and University of Colorado, and is the author of Dancing at Your Desk; A Metaphysical Guide to Job Happiness and BrilliantDay: 7 Solutions to Turn Your Day Around. For more information, or to sign up for Sue's classes and workshops, visit www.BrilliantWork.com, email Sue@BrilliantWork.com or call 303-939-8574.

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