My Articles

My articles are published monthly at the San Dimas Community News, La Verne Community News, Glendora Community News, at Azusa Community News. I'm also a regular contributor to The Messenger , Spiritual Newspaper, operating in the greater Los Angeles area and online editions.

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Month of December 2010

How to have a stress-free Holiday Season (Reprint from Nov/Dec 2006)

by Laura Bonilla
Spiritual Coaching and Hypnotherapy

Isn’t it interesting how the holidays – a time when we should become more peaceful – become a time where we become so agitated, angry, and stressed? Have you ever thought of the reasons for this manifestation?

The holiday season is a beautiful time for body-mind-Spirit connection. It’s a time where we could reconnect to what is important in life, where we could introspect on our life purpose. Think about this. We are Spiritual beings in a human body – an earthly body – and this earthly body is tuned with the rhythms of the seasons.

Spring brings new beginnings, new life as Nature becomes more active. Summer brings complete activity, work, and rewards. It provides longer days, more light to perform these activities. Fall comes and Nature starts the slow down process. Days become shorter hinting us to rest. The old starts dying to eventually give way to the new. In Winter, Nature rests, and the days become even shorter. Nature prepares for the new beginnings of Spring, and the process repeats, evolving and moving forward with every cycle.

Fall and Winter are the seasons when we celebrate many ‘holidays’. Again, nature slows down, many species hibernate and rest, but what do we humans do? As the holiday season arrives, there is more and more activity, we get less sleep, we speed up instead of slowing down. This is in total contradiction of what our bodies – our earthly bodies – would like for us to do. Most of us live a very busy lifestyle and it reflects on a very busy mind, with little regards for the body, and almost none for the Spirit. During this season, especially, our bodies fight for the rest it wants and needs, but with our commitments, the shopping and traveling of the holidays, we don’t “listen”. Our body wins many times by making us literally sick, as a way of saying: “you’re not listening. I must rest. I’m taking you hostage”. The more we attempt to fulfill our obligations with little rest, the more the stress builds up, because there is an internal conflict.

To ease these internal conflicts and have a much joyful season, here are a few tips:
1. Be aware that fall and winter mean “slow down”. Listen to your body and try to sleep a little more. It’s normal to feel more sleepy, less active, less motivated, more sad. These are all ways of your body and mind to talk to you. Simple acknowledgement will help. Don’t fight it. Understand your body. Embrace yourself.
2. Set your intention every morning to stay calm and relax. Know that you will do what you can today, and the rest will wait for tomorrow.
3. Slow down and feel the peace of the seasons. Drive calmly and peaceful, knowing that you are part of the “crowds”. Choose to love the crowds, instead of hating them. You are them.
4. Choose to be happy today and send a blessing to all who you encounter. Remember that really, there are no strangers, we are all connected to the same Source. Yield in the freeway, send love to the one who cuts in front of you, offer the parking space to someone else, instead of fighting for it. Let the other person take that last item at the store. Be all about “giving” this season.
5. Be loving, compassionate, and forgiving, and start with yourself. That’s the reason we are all here. To learn to be better beings. To remember that we are all One.

We may not be able to “slow down” as Nature would like us to do, but we can certainly make better choices to remain calm and relax. Being stressed, angry, or worry don’t help us achieve anything any faster, it does not help getting there faster. Slow down, choose to love yourself. Smile more, choose to have fun this year.

Laura Bonilla, C.Ht. is a Licensed Spiritual Coach, Hypnotherapist, and Reiki Master/Teacher. Laura’s holistic approach is to bring Spirit-Mind-Body into Oneness. Thru her private practice she helps people to be successful in life. For private sessions, info about her workshops or to buy her Self Hypnosis CDs go to www.themindclinic.net or email at laura@themindclinic.net. You can always read her articles and archives at her website. All her materials are copyrighted © 2010. Reprints allowed with credits intact.