Hey Pinkies,

Joy here. Merry Christmas- one day late. I enjoyed a mellow one this year. Since I’ve moved to California from the east coast, Chritmas has been a relatively low-key affair. Flights are expensive, traveling is hectic, friends have other plans … plus the end of the year generally finds me sleepy, reflective, quiet, and not particularly motivated to do much at all. One friend recently pointed out how ironic it is that we are expected to DO so much during the holidays – attending dinners, parties, exchanges, and cocktail hours; shopping; baking; visiting – during a time when our bodies seem to be telling us to lay low.

Owning What Feels Right

I must be honest, though, laying low bummed me out the first couple of years. It didn’t feel chosen so much as having ended up this way. As chaotic as everything feels in general at this time of year, there had been a strange comfort in the rushing, the traffic, the overdoing, the conflict, and the weariness brought on by the holidays. But during this year, a year when everything has shifted for me, I find myself OWNING so many aspects of my life that I’d previously resisted – in this case, the very real fulfillment found in spending my Christmas holiday with my boyfriend, dog, and cat, couch-lounging, hiking, eating out, and taking some sacred time out of "regular" life.

Tips on Maintaining Your Holiday Mojo

So that’s one way I’m keeping my Mojo for the duration of the holiday season – quite simply, Owning Me. Here are a few more tips to keep these next several days magical and enchanted – the way (at least I think) they were intended.

1. Do what you want, and listen to your body. Really. Feel like whooping it up and celebrating? Go for it. But if your energy feels low, it’s for good reason. Nobody’s going to be offended if you don’t make it to that second party of the night, or if you don’t feel like driving nine hours to the family reunion at Aunt Penelope’s. And even if you are met with resentment – remember, that’s that person’s experience, and their choice. Own what you feel, and know that’s always in your best interest.
2. Reflect in gratitude. It ain’t just for Thanksgiving anymore. Think back on the year. Anticipate the one ahead. What went right this year? What are you hoping for the next one? Tell your loved ones how much you appreciate them – whether you’re with them or not.
3. Give because it feels good. I don't mean buying presents or baking for your neighbors. Be led by your heart and see where your highest self is needed. Generosity is an aspect of our truest essence as beings. Today, walking by a homeless man, I felt an inexplicable wave of love and connection that pulled me into a cafe to buy him lunch. Maybe that's what they mean by "holiday spirit." Whatever it was, it grabbed me and woke up my heart to the undercurrent of kindness that connects us all. It just felt deepy right and true.
4. Get Crafty. And not just because you’re “supposed” to bake cookies or decorate the house. Spend a cozy day at home building a gingerbread house or making ornaments. Roast some vegetables or make soup. Projects don’t have to be seasonally themed either. Paint the mailbox. Make a collage. Welcome in the New Year with your creative mojo flowing (there’s actually a great Mojo Monday exercise awaiting you on this front … stay tuned!).
5. Surround yourself with light. Part of what makes Christmas so magical – at least in theory – are the short days illuminated in twinkly candlelight. Nothing evokes feelings of wonder like turning off all the lights and dining (playing, reading, meditating, reflecting) in the peaceful dim of candles or Christmas lights. This never fails to instill awe and help me connect with spirit.
6. Engage fully. No matter what you are doing – baking cookies, driving to Grandma’s, singing carols, writing a letter to Santa or toasting the new year, bring your whole self to the activity. There is no suffering in the present moment, say the Buddhists, and putting your full attention on what you’re doing – even if it’s the same thing you’ve done for countless years on end – may just re-infuse it with the joy it originally brought you.

May the Christmas holiday find you content, grateful, whole, grounded, at ease, and surrounded by love. I will surely be spending much of the next two days reflecting in gratitude at all you Pinkies have brought to my life.

Be well, and still.

Much love,

Joy