RENEWAL

Before the holiday season starts to ramp up, I like to spend some time on personal and family RENEWAL to help give me and my relationships the strength to truly enjoy the hectic holidays ahead.

RENEWAL for me entails four parts: physical, emotional, values and mental. When I take time to refill my jars in these areas I feel more myself and ready to face anything. I also find these are the areas that provide a sense of closeness within my family too. 

For personal RENEWAL in a physical sense I like to exercise, eat healthy foods, and take time to address and manage stress. I never shoot for perfection in these areas, I just like to make sure I put a RENEWED emphasis on them so that I can literally feel the benefits.

To RENEW my emotional side, I like to invest in building friendships, giving service, listening empathetically, or creating energy. I certainly don’t try to do all of these all of the time, but I do like to look for opportunities to focus on at least one of these to boost those ‘feel good’ emotions.

I also find it helpful to rededicate myself to my values by meditating and reading inspirational literature. Oftentimes this reminds me of what I find important so that I don’t spend too much time during this busy season on things that I don’t truly value.

To RENEW my mental state, I usually like to do quiet, reflective activities such as read, visualize, plan, write, develop talents, or learn new skills. For me, these are the personal areas that I most enjoy spending time on and that refill my batteries.

If you have a partner or children, I also find these same areas are helpful to focus on for a sense of RENEWAL within your family.

For physical, you can exercise together, do physical activities together, as well as clarify expectations and goals around financial and physical assets. 

Emotional RENEWAL can often be the most fun to work on by spending time to love and affirm one another, laugh at inside jokes and relax together, or build relationships of trust and unconditional love.

RENEWING commitments, clarifying directions and goals, or reading inspirational literature together can help your family strengthen their common values.

For mental RENEWAL, you can learn new things together, or share and discuss ideas.

All of these are things that help build the closeness with ourself and our families, which is what we truly crave during the holiday season. I encourage you to perhaps spend less time baking, shopping and preparing for the holidays, and instead spend some time on personal RENEWAL as well as establishing traditions that nurture the spirit of family RENEWAL.