So this is christmas…

Happy Christmas everyone!
 
I would like to thank you all, old and new friends and acquaintances.  Thank you for your support and appreciation over the past year and for your feedback and kind words.

Many people one way or another are being tested and put under pressure.  In such times remember that all things pass and it is part of a process to help us to move on to new things.  When I feel I’m being tested I always like to ask myself “what’s my learning?”

This time of year brings up a whole host of emotions for almost everyone ranging from excitement to utter dread.

In this month’s Newspod we take a look at the effects Christmas stress plays on our health and our emotional well being. 

Read on….  

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Its just a question of Mind over Matter

I know several people who really struggle in December.  Wrestling to balance the daily pressures of work,  getting  through the shopping, the crowds, writing Christmas cards, and summing up the energy to provide a great Christmas dinner. 

A client recently articulating her dread of Christmas reminded me of an incident that happened to me several years ago before I had trained as a hypnotherapist and is a perfect illustration of how we can let our stress levels get out of control.
 
It was at a time when I was a stressed out mum working full time in a high pressured environment.  I was simply dreading Christmas and having the entire family over, aunties, uncles, cousins, parents etc.   The pressures of Christmas shopping, and getting the house just perfect, took their toll in a frightening and alarming way. 

One Saturday, two weeks before Christmas, I was driving to Cheltenham completely wound up, to do some Christmas shopping when suddenly I lost complete feeling and control of the left side of my body.  Somehow I managed to drive back home and stagger out of the car and collapsed on the sofa.

It was an alarming experience at the time and made me realise quite clearly how our thoughts determine our physiological responses.
From then on I have viewed Christmas in quite a different way.  
 

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Here are my top 6 essential tips for the perfect easy Christmas 

1.   Avoid any shopping centres after the 1^stDecember. Shopping centres can be a huge drain on your energy levels.   Go local and discover the delights of small bespoke shops. Ideal little stocking fillers can be found at farmers markets, or If you have a keen eye, delights can be had at charity shops.  Local shopping reinforces the feel good factor.  Place attention to detail – a beautifully wrapped present looks expensive, unique and carefully thought about.

2.   If you are overwhelmed bring things back in control.  If you have run out of time to send Christmas cards, prioritise, to those essential aunts and uncles etc.  I ring up old friends periodically and catch up rather than just sending yet another card of promises to meet up.  Emails are okay, however they do not stand out as anything special.  It’s a time of good will, People like to feel  loved, liked, and cherished.

3.   Keep it simple… People remember the emotion, the feeling, the experience years afterwards, rather than how many courses or the quality of the presents.  The best events are when the hosts are relaxed and up for fun. I used to get really hung up on cleaning the entire house from top to bottom.  I am much more casual these days and really focus on only the rooms that people see.  We all like to play sardines, by the end of the evening everyone is covered in dust where they have been hiding under the bed!  No one notices because it’s dark! I am beyond caring because the fun and good cheer is far more important.

4.   Keep a sense of perspective.  Reframe how you feel about your nearest and dearest…we can’t choose our family.  Forgive and move on from past hurts.  Write yourself juicy powerful statements reinforcing that your mother in law or whoever, (who generally is a guaranteed wind up) no longer has any effect on you. Write in the positive and present tense.  What we ask for is what we get.

5.   If you feel yourself winding up like a tight spring, or feeling you can’t breathe – take 15 minutes out. Lie down in a quiet place and focus on your breathing, lovely deep relaxing breaths, breathing into your stomach and deflating on the out breath. In your mind take yourself to a lovely garden or a golden beach and whisper to yourself relax, relax, relax, works like magic.

6.   In the kitchen or while cleaning play soothing, inspirational music, or crank up the volume and start the party early to the Rolling Stones!

Whatever your religious beliefs about Christmas it is a celebration, a time for cosying up and celebrating. Whether it’s the birth of Jesus or the winter solstice…after the 22^ndof December we pass the shortest day and from there on the days are getting longer.  I view it as a time to sit around the table and play silly games with my nearest and dearest and come from a place of love.   

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Relationships

Christmas is also a time that throws a spotlight on all relationships.  It is a well known fact that they are tested due to increased financial pressures, excessive drinking and the stressful emphasis that everything has to be perfect.

Couples relationships are particularly under pressure.  Paula Hall, a counsellor with Relate, says “giving each other gratitude, intimacy, forgiveness and time, couples can pull together and make their relationship stronger and happier than ever”.
     
Over the next few months I am excited about doing some joint working with Nicky Gough, collaborative Family Lawyer of Cotswold Family Law  www.cotswoldfamilylaw.co.uk    More details to follow next month.   

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Reminder:  Winter Mood Enhancement CD Special Offer!

This offer is still on! Now available at 33% off.  The RRP is £15.00 but for a limited time you pay only £10.00 including P&P.  Your money back is guaranteed if you are not completely satisfied. Offer ends 31st December.   Buy your CD here.

Banish those winter blues, buy the powerful  hypnotic mind
programming CD and choose to feel  more energetic, healthier, happier and change how you feel.

  
May you have a happy healthy and prosperous 2011   

Best wishes 
Nicola

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Transform those winter blues

Transform Those Winter Blues

By the time you read this the UK will be just about adjusting to the clocks going back one hour to Greenwich Mean Time.

I  recently read with interest a reference to a study in the British Medical Journal that claims staying on British Summer Time may encourage us to be more active in the evenings; which in turn could positively affect people’s mental health and well being.

The BMJ report came after claims that the lack of daylight may be a contributing factor to a much referred to condition known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) – a type of winter depression that affects an estimated 7% of the UK’s population every winter.

SAD, is a type of depression that affects a person during the same season each year. If you get depressed in the winter but feel much better in spring and summer, you possibly are experiencing Seasonal Affected Disorder.

I have successfully worked with a number of clients who have had SAD finding it very difficult to function in the winter season between November and April.  They particularly experienced problems during December, January and February.

I can empathise having had similar feelings myself.  Prior to training as a hypnotherapist I experienced all of the above.  Both my daughters were born in the winter months and I used to find  raising sufficient enthusiasm to orgainise birthday parties at the end of November and the beginning of January very difficult.   All I wanted to do was hibernate for 4-5 months under the duvet.  I felt grumpy, tired, listless with dark depressive thoughts.

If you have SAD, or the winter blues you may experience some of the below:

• Depressive tendencies, grumpy, moody, or anxious.
• Lose interest in your usual activities.
• Eat more and crave carbohydrates, such as bread and pasta.
• Gain weight.
• Experience a decrease in sexual desire.
• Sleep more and feel drowsy during the daytime.

What causes SAD?

Specialists think SAD may be caused by a lack of light linked to the shortened daylight hours of winter. Limited light can upset your sleep-wake cycle and other natural body rhythms.  It is also claimed to cause problems with the feel good brain chemical called serotonin that affects your mood.

When our eyes detect darkness, a small gland in the brain called the pineal releases melatonin, which establishes sleep cycles. When we detect light, melatonin production subsides and its cheerier hormonal sibling, serotonin, takes over to promote wakefulness and help improve our mood.

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