Posts tagged with “holidays”
How to Have a Meaningful Holiday Season on Your Own Terms
“Take a little time to be amazed by something you won’t enjoy unless you consciously choose to focus on it. See the things you can’t see when you’re rushing. Hear the things you can’t hear when you’re stressing. Get so caught up in your senses that everything else seems to stop for a moment—because things don’t actually stop. So we have to be the ones who do it.” ~Lori Deschene
As December unfolds, I’ve made a conscious choice that feels both liberating and true to myself: I’m celebrating a quiet Christmas at home with just my best friend.
While my …
Free Yourself from Sugar Addiction This Holiday Season
“Part of the ingenuity of any addictive drug is to fool you into believing that life without it won’t be as enjoyable” ~Alan Carr
“I’m okay, thanks.”
See that? I just turned down a Tony’s Chocolonely from our family advent calendar.
I don’t care that it’s a white raspberry popping candy flavor I have never, ever tried before.
I don’t care that I remember being a kid, opening chocolate coins from my stocking.
I don’t care!
Because this year, I’m going into the holiday month already sugar-free. And I am tentatively walking on air about it!!
I’m forty-five, …
10 Reasons and Helpful Tips to Make It a Dry December
“The very best thing you can do for the whole world is to make the most of yourself.” ~Wallace Wattles
In all my years of drinking, I never thought I’d hear myself suggesting a Dry December. Nor could I have predicted that the month I’d eventually decide to embrace my sober curiosity would be the holiday month.
Before I decided to give an alcohol-free lifestyle a chance, I had completed many Dry Januarys, occasional Sober Octobers, and even one Dry July. (Dry July was the hardest for me because I really felt like I was alone in trying to …
The 3 Ms That Help Me Cope with Seasonal Depression
“The word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” ~Carl Jung
My two-year-old son looked up at me with his big, blue, beautiful eyes.
He wanted me to play. I took a toy car in my hand and rolled it along the wooden living room floor we were both sitting on, making an enthusiastic VROOM as I did it. He smiled. He appreciated my effort at sound effects.
The streetlights standing on the road outside our living room window were already glowing warmly, even though it was barely 4:30 p.m. and the sky was …
A Gentle Reminder to Anyone Who’s Struggling This Holiday Season
“It’s okay to want to be alone. It’s okay to take time for yourself.” ~Kate Allan
It’s the holiday season, the most wonderful time of the year, they say, but it’s not for all of us. For those of us coping with the loss of a loved one, family estrangement, loneliness, financial difficulties, or health struggles, the holidays can be one of the hardest times of the year.
For some of us the holidays can feel as if we have been cast out in the cold. As if we are forced to look through a window of a happy, …
10 Easy Responses to Use When People Ask Why You Aren’t Drinking
Embracing the holiday season can sometimes mean embracing alcohol with gusto… or not. Fortunately for those who choose the former, “Dry January” has caught on over the years and it’s a fantastic concept. Going through a refresh is a perfect way to rid the toxins and melt the bloat away.
I’d like to throw out a radical idea, or should I say a radical self-care opportunity!
How would your holidays feel without alcohol?
You might gasp looking for a chair to sit down as you frantically wonder how on earth you would get through the parties, relatives, house guests, and …
Put Down Your Phone: Why Presence Is the Best Gift You’ll Ever Give
“When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
The only thing worse than not listening to someone is pretending to listen.
Giving the vague murmur of agreement, or a quick nod to communicate “Yes, I’m listening, totally,” when really, we’re not.
I remember vividly a dinner I had with friends about four years ago. I’d been backpacking in New Zealand for twelve months and had just returned to the UK. Traveling in the car to my friend’s house, I imagined how the night …
How to Safely Enjoy the Pandemic Holidays
“Surreal” is the word that keeps coming to mind. Life has felt like an alternative universe for quite a while now, and it feels even stranger during the holiday season.
After a year of much sacrifice, reality is requiring us to forgo traditions we hold dear and distance ourselves from people we may feel we’ve already gone too long without seeing.
And many are navigating the season with a sense of grief—for lost loved ones, lost purpose, maybe even lost hope.
Maybe that’s not you. Maybe you are full of gratitude for everything you have, and now appreciate even …
20 Powerful Quotes to Help Minimize Conflict and Drama
The holidays can be a lot of fun, but let’s face it, they can sometimes be stressful, particularly if you spend them with family. Surrounded by multiple generations of people, many with different perspectives and beliefs, it’s easy to feel triggered or annoyed.
Then there are the challenges associated with going home, whether that means visiting a physical location or returning to the (possibly unhealthy) mental space you occupied as a kid.
And if you do fall into old landmines, it’s all the more frustrating because holidays come but once a year, and they’re supposed to be joyful, right?…
New Tiny Buddha Shirts and iPhone Cases, Just in Time for the Holidays!
Hi friends! I’m excited to share that I’ve recently launched a new selection of shirts and iPhone cases on Tiny Buddha, with five new designs—meaning nine in total—just in time for the holiday season!
I’m also happy to share that the new store offers much better shipping times than I was able to offer in the past.
The new designs are based on some of the most popular memes I’ve shared on social media. My personal favorite is the “Peace Love Music” one.
Each design is available in multiple shirt styles: tee, v-neck, tank, sweatshirt, and hoodie, with a range …
How to Enjoy the Holidays When Grieving the Loss of a Loved One
This post contains an excerpt from GETTING GRIEF RIGHT: Finding Your Story of Love in the Sorrow of Loss, by Patrick O’Malley, PhD with Tim Madigan.
It was spring 1980 when my wife, Nancy, and I received some of the best news of our lives—she was pregnant with our first child.
On a Tuesday morning that September, we found ourselves sitting in her obstetrician’s office. Nancy, not due to deliver for three months, had been awakened the night before by a strange physical sensation.
She had wanted to get checked out, just to be safe. But after the examination …
What the Holidays Would Look Like if Kids Were in Charge
Kids are so creative, and thinking outside the box comes naturally to them. (They’d much rather use the box as a dollhouse than think inside it!)
In this joyful little video, SoulPancake asked kids at a Boys & Girls Club to draw a picture of what the holidays would look like if they were in charge—and then they brought their holiday dreams to life.
10 Powerful Gifts to Give and Receive Today
“Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons.” ~Ruth Ann Schabacker
Regardless of what holiday you celebrate, or how you honor it, there’s no denying this is an emotionally loaded time of year.
We either remind ourselves how grateful we are for all the people we love, or we remember how much it hurts that we don’t have people like that in our lives.
We either celebrate all our blessings, or we look toward the year to come, wondering if we’ll have more then.
You may find yourself reflecting on last Christmas in awe of how much …
8 Ideas for Stress-Free, Meaningful Holiday Gift Giving
“You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.” ~Unknown
There’s something magical about this time of year, and it has nothing to do with the Santas posted like soldiers at various points throughout the globe or the million volts of electricity that light up Main Streets the world over.
I’ve always loved Christmastime because the season inspires people to focus on everything that’s important in life.
The usually harried slow down just a little to stop and smell the mistletoe, while humming along to redundant Christmas songs they secretly enjoy. Fighting relatives …
50+ Ways to Beat the Holiday Blues
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” ~Dalai Lama
It’s a well-known fact that the holidays bring on the blues. According to the National Mental Health Association, reasons for feeling blue around the holidays range from fatigue to financial limitations to tensions in personal relationships.
As for me, I’m generally a happy person. I don’t dwell on things I can’t control, I have realistic expectations, I’ve learned overtime that trying to change people is futile, and I’ve even come to appreciate some of my flaws.
But sometimes, melancholy finds me. Like a thick fog …
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