A 30-Day Meditation Exercise To Manage Holiday Stress (And Any Other Kind) by Susan Quinn/Therapist: at DailyStrength Doctors and Advisors

Susan Quinn has been serving in Beverly Hills for over 20 years as a Psychotherapist and Life Coach. She combines the mind-body and energy therapies such as EMDR, EFT, and Somatic Psychotherapy. These approaches help people clear…

More About Me >>

FAST FACTS

A 30-Day Meditation Exercise To Manage Holiday Stress (And Any Other Kind)

Posted in Stress Manageme... by Susan Quinn on Dec 08, 2010

The holidays put so much stress on everyone in a way that no one really escapes. Whether its from expectations of others, "This holiday season my family will bring me the love and recognition I yearn for," or expectations of the self, "The holidays will bring me the peace of mind to honor myself and others in a way that I can create a healthy fullfilling time for everyone," there are so many differeent worries and concerns for the holiday season.

The expectations that the images and pictures of families feeling happy and supported by loved ones also causes sadness and despair because unlike what those holiday images suggest, many people may not have loving supportive people to surround themselves with.

When we don't feel what we want to feel or think we “should” feel, we feel stress and anxiety. Anxiety is a part of life and will come up frequently. I suggest that you do what I do to manage daily stress. This is a simple meditation that just takess 4 minutes per day, and I believe that meditation actually changes your brainwaves. I have found this to be life changing if done on a regular basis.

Here is the process:

When you first wake up set the alarm for 5 minutes later to wake you up, so that you don't have to worry about time.

Then take a deep breath in through your nose until you cannot take in any more air

Let this air out through your mouth with a big SIGH.

Repeat this 4 times.

Now you are in a meditative state and all you have to do is the following: Notice your breath in and out. On the in breath, say to yourself "in" and on the out breath say, "out."

When you have an intervening thought, which you will definitely have, say to yourself, “that's a thought.” As you do that, watch the thought swim across your eyes as if it were a school of fish scurrying by.

After you have done this for 5 minutes your alarm will go off and CONGRATULATIONS! You have kept your commitment to yourself!