Holidays - Happy or Heavy? Handling Holiday Emotions
In a recent workshop I asked how people were honestly feeling about the upcoming holidays. Here were the most popular responses: Anger, frustrations, irritations, resentmentsFear, anxiety, worried, "feeling trapped"Grief, sadness, loneliness, regrets, longing/ missingGood old Guilt and Shame (not approved of or good enough) Depression, apathy, uselessness, disempowered.Need a cup of holiday "cheer" to get in the spirit anyone? When we can't feel spirit, we may reach for 'spirits'.Problem: Winter and Holidays bring up a lot of heavy emotions.Why this common phenomenon? Childhood, home and family are the formative source of our personality, beliefs and ongoing issue-lessons. When we were small, sensitive and vulnerable, difficult stuff happened.Cause: The winter and holidays both deal with and represent home and family, so "the ghosts of Christmas past" come to haunt us.Why? This is the ingenious way that emotions work. When they HURT, they ALERT us to a situation in need of correction or healing. A current issue brings forth emotion to help inform and motivate you to resolve it. When a past event brought ups a similar emotion, you are being offered an opening to resolve the earlier unfinished business. Emotions are so infallibly in service of your growth, they stay around for decades awaiting the time you are ready, willing and able to deal and heal.Deeper Cause: Current issues open a door to learn and heal past issuesWhat to do? When that priceless door of self-salvation opens, go inside. Come to understand what you are feeling, why you are feeling it, and what you need to feel better. Then do that! It's simple, if not always easy. But, don't just push on through, feeling but not dealing, fighting but not finding victory, suffering without finding your way out.Solution: When you FEEL, be REAL, and DEAL with it all.Need help getting started? Your innate intuitive intelligence is there to guide you. The entire Sense of the Soul body of work is to retrain us to use this equipment, this system of Emotional Self-Therapy.Here are some succinct resources:
- The SOS Method
- The Emotional Intelligence Guide
- 1st of a 6-Part series of short videos with info and exercises on YouTube
Main Point: Want HAPPY? Deal with HEAVY. When you address and resolve whatever is blocking your flow of peace, you return to that natural state of positive experience.
