The Post-Holiday Season: A Compelling Time to Find Balance

The holiday season can be a time that we become more aware of a loss of personal space, feeling deprived, unrequited love, feeling stressed, hopeless, a lack of control, unable to cope and perhaps an insatiable craving that no amount of chocolate can satisfy.  And herein lies the great paradox of “The Holiday Season”:  Love and togetherness mingled with resentment and competition.  What is it that causes us to take otherwise normal behaviors a bit too far, forcing our bodies to desperately try to find balance.  And what better opportunity for us to practice finding balance than in this season of extremes and contradictions.

This year, instead of trying to regain control by imposing a strict New Year’s resolution, practice being a little kinder to yourself.   Consider these resolutions instead:

  • Be open and question all your beliefs and assumptions in order to uncover your fears
  • Be insanely brave and start feeling all your emotions as they arise, instead of repressing them
  • Be creative and discover what you love aside from things or people
  • Trust that doing all these things will eventually lead to finding balance in an uncertain world.  It is possible.

Below are some areas to begin your personal exploration to finding balance:

Giving and Receiving – Start by observing how we may overgive/underreceive or undergive/overreceive in different situations.  In the next post, we will explore the soundness in such actions as our bodies are really just trying to get our needs met.

Togetherness and Solitude – Loneliness affects every one of us at different points in our lives.  It has a definite purpose and the sooner we understand and embrace it, the sooner we no longer fear it.  That is the moment that we are able to carve out our special niche in this world.  In the meantime, just be mindful of when you need to take a break and perhaps go for a walk amidst all the togetherness or take time for yourself.  Practice being a good listener.  Notice when you may be judging, criticizing or offering unwanted advice.  Sometimes, just showing up, is the most wonderful gift we can give to someone.

Hope and Logic – If we keep hoping for something to occur, we will never be at peace.  At the same time, if we never take risks, we may live with regrets.  The balance lies in getting to know ourselves and discovering any illogical fears or self-limiting beliefs that we may have.  Once we do this, we can trust ourselves and others.  Even if the outcome is not as we may have hoped, we are enlightened enough to see how this was a necessary next step in reaching our ultimate goal.

                        Healthful Eating and Guilt-Free Indulgence – Guilt may be one of the hardest feelings to release.  Similar to loneliness, we may have to acknowledge and sit with it for a little while first.  From this point of acceptance however, we can accept that cravings are actually a blessing.  Cravings or guilt may indicate that we are stuffing down our emotions in an effort to avoid pain.  The long-term pain and suffering from years of doing this is far greater than the short-term pain in acknowledging, understanding and releasing feelings or beliefs that do not serve us.  Trust that your body ultimately seeks to nurture and nourish itself, so that we may lead long, happy lives.

Action and Inaction – When it comes to exercise, if it’s not fun, then it’s no wonder we don’t stay with it very long.  And since when does exercise have to feel like a burden.  Of course, there are days when we lose sight of our purpose.  At times such as these, maybe our bodies are calling for a less strenuous activity that day or week and we should take heed.  Similarly, this mindfulness of when to act or when not to act may occur in our social interactions.  There may be times when we can practice just being a good listener or giving a situation space, instead of feeling like we have to take action.   Through practice, we will get the balance right between action and inaction.

Connecting and Disconnecting – In today’s world, we are more connected, yet more disconnected than ever.  Deep-down all humans need connection and a sense of belonging.  We are not meant to seek it in people or things, however.  We find it through connecting with ourselves.  We look to our supposed weaknesses and that is where we find our strengths.  We explore our obsessions and turn them into passions.

In the coming weeks, we will explore each of these areas in order to gain an understanding of why humans behave the way we do today.  This allows us find balance through accepting ourselves, which is the link that allows us to truly experience growth.  New Year’s resolutions can have the effect of trying to control a behavior.  When we fail, it’s simply because we do not give the human brain and body any credit in having a sound purpose in every action we perform.

The path is different for each of us.  The Energy Movement Center offers the opportunity to try different classes and workshops, explore different concepts that may or may not speak to us and feel a sense of connection to each other that we are all in this together.  Opening our minds and hearts and breaking down self-limiting beliefs and fears, we begin to notice how much fun we can have and how many wonderful things we can open ourselves up to.  We may not know the future, but we can get to know ourselves and in doing so, find the balance that we seek.  Happy New Year!