Healthy Holidays!

 

Speaking from someone who loves to celebrate, this time of year can be most exciting. The holiday season gives us opportunities to be thankful, giving, and ring in another new year. With all of these reasons to act in exceptional ways, this time of year can also cause many of us to lose our sense of equilibrium. Stress, expectations, and "waiting until the last minute" to get something done can push us out of alignment and affect our natural sense of balance.

As the holiday season is moving into full swing, here are some quick tips to help us maintain better balance in our mind, body and spirit while we celebrate this exciting time of year:

• Get plenty of rest. The holidays always include extra activities and will take more energy than usual, so getting adequate amounts of rest will let us join in the fun!
• Drink lots of water and other fluids (including hot teas). This will keep us properly hydrated and less prone to holiday germs.
• Eat healthy foods high in vitamins and minerals. Most of us will eat some holiday treats (candy, chocolate, etc.), but be sure to keep it balanced with healthy portions of proteins, fruits and vegetables. Too much sugar will spike our energy and can cause headaches and fatigue.
• Help stop the spread of holiday colds and illness. By covering our mouths when we sneeze or cough, and washing our hands often we lessen the spread of germs. Carry extra tissues with you if your nose is runny or throat lozenges if you have a cough.
• Get plenty of exercise. Even a short walk in the mornings or evenings will help keep our blood moving. Exercise and stretching helps improve circulation and promotes faster healing!
• Take time to spend with people. Visiting with our family and friends during our holiday time off and taking the time to reconnect with those we love strengthens our relationships, boosts our immune system and reconnects us back to ourselves.
• Unplug a little! Take time off from the busy hustle and bustle: Turn off the ringer on your phone and let calls go to voice mail; take a few days off from Facebook & Twitter—the world won't end without your updated status; don't read email for a couple days; turn off the TV and pop in a classic holiday movie—unplug from the world and plug back into a good book, the people, the music, and the nature around you. It's all there waiting for your attention!  

May this holiday season allow you time to relax, refresh and "recharge" your batteries, and provide you with the opportunity to connect to the natural balance within you.

Namaste,

Michael Thomas Sunnarborg

Bring in the new year by returning to better balance. Need a bit of motivation? Pick up a copy of 21DaystoBetterBalance or another book in the series, and start finding better balance with yourself, your relationships, or your career in 2014!

Spirit of Gratitude

 

Thank you. Merci. Gracias. Tak. Kiitos. Mahalo. Shukriya. Danke. Grazie. Dhanyabaad. Shukran. Salamat. Just some of the many languages in which I've had the privilege of learning how to say, "Thank you". Giving thanks is an expression of gratitude, which is a critical step in the giving and receiving cycle—it completes the loop.

What is the loop, you ask? The loop is the cycle that begins and completes the flow of conscious creative energy. In other words, the act of manifesting a unique experience through the process giving and receiving. But do all our these experiences turn out to be happy and joyful? Not so much. Well, at least not a first... but therein lies the role of gratitude—it allows us to change our perspective. Many times I practice the "it could be worse" perspective which allows me to be thankful for what I already have. This can be a quick way to reframe a potentially negative situation and realize it's really "not that bad after all."

We often think of gratitude as spontaneous, but we can practice gratitude. Since thankfulness is rooted in positive feelings, feeling and expressing gratitude creates more positive energy. Being thankful generates a spirit of genuine appreciation, and feelings of goodwill always inspire more of the same.  Gratitude is like a “thank you” card—a gift back for a gift given. When we take time to show our appreciation for someone’s gift, we make an exchange of spiritual energy. Gratitude allows for this spiritual connection to occur. This exchange adds to the foundation of our relationship and strengthens the bonds of trust and respect. Expressions of gratitude are seldom forgotten.

During this Thanksgiving holiday we have the time to remember those people and the gifts of our lives we are thankful for. I also encourage you to pay attention to those opportunities and moments which disguise themselves as frustrating, aggravating or hopeless, and give thanks for the awareness these opportunities are providing you. With a gentle shift in your perspective, you, too, may be able to say "thank you" in any language—especially the language of your heart.

Happy Thanksgiving Holiday.

The Ambassador of Goodwill