Soul Care for the Holidays
The holiday season can be filled with fun and merriment, laughter with friends, singing old familiar songs, and participating in favorite traditions of times past. This time of year can also be filled with financial stressors, heightened depression, anxiety and emotions, disappointments and fatigue.
The very nature of the season makes it a good time to be intentional about caring for and nourishing your soul. As good as that sounds, it may also bring up more stress just thinking about adding one more thing to your to do list. That is why today we are going to look at ways to nourish your soul without adding something to your already full holiday schedule.
Each of the gentle suggestions below can be done as you wind down your day and lay your head on your pillow.
End the day with gratitude - with a bigger to do list than normal, we can find ourselves focused on all the things that we need to do the following day or frantically remembering what didn’t get done. Instead of allowing your mind to focus on these things, end the day with a gratitude list. Pick, 5, 10 or even 15 things that you are thankful for. It’s not so much about the number, but rather about sending your thoughts down the pathway of gratitude. Ending the day with gratitude not only ends your day on a positive note, but it can also make the way for peaceful sleep as well as a pleasant way to start the next morning.
Receive empathy- maybe your day was not so great — you yelled at your kids, were not so nice to your husband and you found yourself more like the grinch than you’d like to admit. It’s times like these when we need to go to Jesus for empathy. My experience is that this is not a normal thing we think of to do during prayer. It’s quite simple and effective. Go to Jesus and tell him how you feel — be honest and vulnerable with all the feels. Then listen. Think about how Jesus understands and how he loves you. Spend your last waking moments basking in the love of Jesus.
Prayer of Examen- in its simplest form, this prayer is about looking back over your day and looking for those times and moments that you can identify God being with you, leading you, or helping you. This prayer can go much deeper, but my suggestion for the holiday season is to simply take a few moments to reflect back and look for God’s touch in your day.
Hopefully these ideas do not feel like one more thing to do but rather feel like a intentional peaceful way to end your day. Try one, two or all three. Mix it up! Do what feels good to your soul and experience a healthier, happier soul.