By now, no one doubts that the coming Christmas season is going to be very "special". Meetings with a reduced number of people, distance, masks, curfew... If these festivities already generate a certain amount of stress, due to the accumulation of events, the things to do... this year it is aggravated by the pandemic.
These are the FOUR KEYS that will allow you to live these dates with peace of mind and integrity:
1. Don't cling to what is not in your power to solve.
We cannot avoid having stress, but we can activate our own resources to avoid plummeting under its effects and to dissolve the wheel of the usually negative inner dialogue.
2. Don't care what people think of you.
You were not born and are not in the world to meet anyone's expectations. Not even your own.
3. Find meaning in what is happening to you
When you feel uncomfortable, uneasy, uneasy, or simply irrational fears invade you, stop for a moment and ask yourself: What don't I understand? What information am I missing? And you will be able, by looking inside yourself, to transform what you are experiencing. It is not a mental exercise, but an exercise in listening to yourself.
4. A positive mind is not a calm and quiet mind.
Forcing a change from negative to positive thinking does not always cancel the internal conflict. If we try to force this change, we will enter into a fight with ourselves and not into serenity. What you can do is to stop qualifying them and stop interpreting whether the thought is good or bad, positive or negative. The key is to see them as fleeting, and if they happen too often, to ask yourself if the thought is being useful for the life you want to live. Ask yourself, is it useful for my mental health, does it contribute to and help me to expand my wellbeing to the maximum? If not, discarding it is the healthiest thing to do.
Ángela Jordana
Director and founder of the School of Competences for Life and Health.