Happy Holidays from the Big Island. ♥️ I hope this finds you well as we charge into the peak of the holiday season. Enjoy these healthy holiday tips and insights.
I am so grateful to you for being part of my life.
✨Happy Holidays!✨
Introduction: The Holiday Gift of Wellness
In this season of giving, we are reminded to be thankful for all that we have and to share with others with open hearts. My gift to you this year is sharing 5 ways to fortify your body, mind, and soul to get through the holidays. Also, introducing you to my special guest Dr. Alvita Soleil on A Dose of Positivity, as we further discuss how to prep our body & mind for the holidays. Dr Soleil is a student of life, Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Medicine Woman, teacher and a visionary artist.
5 Ways to Fortify Your Whole Self During the Holidays
1. Stop Worrying and Choose Excitement
The season of unnecessary stress is upon us, but there are many things we can do to help make this holiday season the best ever. A little stress can be good for us as long as it’s the right kind. Being worried versus being excited crosses over emotional lines to unhealthy stress. When we stop worrying and start doing, we get inspired and excited. Choose to be excited. Start by doing things that bring joy and excitement to you and others.
For each of us, this means different things—baking holiday treats, fermenting vegetables or making jams as gifts, or creating handmade crafts. For others, getting excited could be going on additional nature hikes, completing projects, or taking a friend on a long overdue date. When you really think about it, is it really worth getting your undies in a bungie over shopping and holiday debt?
The whirlwind of list-making, gift-giving, marketing blitzes, and unfulfilling activities begins right after Halloween. While this season is meant to bring feelings of love and cheer, more than 80% of us find the holiday season to be ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ stressful. Do the pressures of the holidays tempt you to spend outside your means, eat too much, or care about the wrong things?
2. Connect with the Earth and Meditate
Gift yourself time outdoors in rituals such as prayer and meditation. It’s been proven that fertile soil and spending time in nature calms nerves. Cultivate the capacity to be in conversation with a spiritual source as the wind cleanses your thoughts, bird sounds soothe your soul, and nature’s aromatic aroma reduces stress. This is one of our greatest human strengths.
So many studies show that meditation changes our biorhythms. Even in the middle of an overwhelming scenario, simply closing your eyes and meditating briefly changes your entire reaction to surrounding conditions.
Find solace in the wisdom of nature.
Listen and study the wisdom of the Earth.
It makes more sense than the media.
3. Breathe and Walk Barefoot
Quiet, relaxed breathing reduces anxiety and helps you to take care of yourself and Mother Earth. If you live in a place where you can walk barefoot each day, that’s an extra bonus. We have been taught that soil is dirty, and therefore many people treat the Earth like dirt rather than like the rich fertility that sustains life. A relationship with the soil and the energy it provides strengthens our immune response. Get grounded and walk barefoot on the Earth whenever possible.
4. Eat as If Your Life Depends On It
Our health is our greatest wealth. When we are healthy in mind and body, our good spirit can embrace the holidays with joy. Vitality is essential for sanity and longevity. Eating and drinking to excess drains both your energy and your wallet. The temptation to overindulge in spending, rich desserts, or alcohol can cause lasting consequences—debt, weight gain, memories of embarrassing behavior—that linger long after the season is over.
During the holidays, we may want to look and feel great (especially around people we don’t see often), but there is so much temptation. Combine this with emotional stress, and it can all add up to overeating and emotional eating.
Plan ahead by being aware of your triggers. Do what you can to have some healthy food at hand for each meal, be aware of your intake, and practice mindful eating. This year, focus on nourishing your body with foods that support your vitality.
5. Practice Gratitude
Many questions circulate during this time of year: What are you grateful for? Why do you get out of bed every day? Are you happy? When approached with gratitude, the demands of everyday life put us in a state of grace. Sometimes things can feel so damn hard. I know. I have been there and will be there again. I get through the holidays by prioritizing what means the most to me.
So, what rocks your world? Make a gratitude list for yourself. What does it look like knowing it is the greatest gift of all? How are you feeling deep inside? At this moment in time, we are all searching. Doing this simple exercise can bring what is important to you into focus and make all the difference in your attitude.
My Personal Gratitude List
I am grateful:
🙏 For Mother Earth, that sustains all life - our air, water, shelter, and food
🙏 For friends and family that love and support me and allow me to love and support them
🙏 For my health, my life, my blessings, and even my faults
🙏 To be part of these challenges and beautiful changes
🙏 For the collective energy of changemakers focused on creating a habitable planet and contributing SOULutions
🙏 For the growing movement of open-minded individuals, businesses, and politicians redesigning a new paradigm that lives in harmony with nature
🙏 For the countless gifts and reminders to live, eat and work like the future matters
🙏 For chocolate and celery, storms and sunshine, bathing suits and comfy sweaters, Thai and Indian food, dogs and wolves, northern lights and volcanic eruptions, turtles, and handmade truffles
🙏 To you for being part of the Soil to Soul positivity community and for being a caring, loving human
🙏 To everyone who donated and ordered thoughtful holiday gifts from Ecospired by Nature. Your support means the world to us. 🥰
Conclusion: Gathering with Grace and Gratitude
Genuine happiness comes when we find pleasure in others’ happiness, when we receive joy watching children play, waves greeting the shore, and snow falling in silence. Happiness happens when we are grateful for clean air, potable water, a roof over our heads, and clothes to wear. I hope we gather this holiday season with more grace and gratitude.
When we start with giving thanks for the things essential to sustain lifekind—all sentient beings—things begin to shift. Surround yourself with a community of changemakers whose hearts and souls are aligned with your gratitude values. Share from your heart, acknowledge your fears and concerns, and offer SOULutions for a better tomorrow. You are loved and appreciated. ❤️
Your Call to Action
This week, choose one practice: create a gratitude list, plan a mindful meal, spend time barefoot in nature, sit in meditation, or do something joyful that costs little or nothing. Notice how differently the holidays feel when you prioritize wellness and presence. Share in the comments: What is your biggest holiday challenge, and which practice will you try to address it?
🥰 A Dose of Positivity
See you all this Thursday for another supreme Dose of Positivity with my special guest, Dr. Alvita Soleil who will teach us how to prep our body & mind for the holidays. ✨🎄