A Year in Review: Highlights & Lowlights

The holidays often bring a series of emotions. This year may be even more intense as we navigate the transitions and adaptations involved with the pandemic. Feelings of joy, gratitude, calm, excitement, peace, sadness, grief, loss, loneliness, fear. Or any combination of these.

Regardless of whether the holidays naturally nurture your preferred state of being, or not, I invite you to think about how you would like to feel this holiday season.  

What words come up for your preferred feeling states?  

For me I think about the following… Rooted. Bliss. Wholehearted. Alive. Magic.

Pick 3 - 5 words that resonate with you!  

What word feels authentic to focus on this holiday season? 

I crave the stillness, quiet, and simplicity when I start my holidays. An intense slowing down.  I believe that this is often due to the demands of running and growing two businesses, Costron + Co. and Find Your Voice Music Therapy. It can be exhausting some days, weeks, or months for that matter.  

If I have learned anything through these years it’s that feeling rooted is necessary for me to balance the “entrepreneur grind” with refilling my well. This is personally what I need to recharge and be able to show up in full heart and mind for my team and the people we serve. 

When does this feeling naturally come up in your life?  What patterns do you notice? 

I’ve noticed that when I am feeling rooted I am grounded in a peaceful powerful presence. I feel intensely connected to the beauty of right now. 

Take time to think about how you want to feel and the activities that naturally cultivate these feelings. Create a feelings action plan for the holiday season! Every day carve out the space to slot these activities in. I often schedule them in as a morning or evening ritual, or perhaps as a break in my day.

This practice involves intentional work that will support the importance of caring for you! For years, I believed that I didn’t have the time, or that these practices wouldn’t support me in feeling better when I was having low days. But as I slowly integrated “me time” into my schedule I felt more at ease and able to be of loving service in community, at work and at home. 

How will you put intentional patterns into practice for the holidays?

When I take more time for myself, I notice that I become more productive. The time I spend on me is more than made up for by the increased amount of thinking, projects, and creativity that I am able to fit into my work hours. My tasks are completed with higher quality and my clients and team get the best version of me.

It’s a conscious choice to choose how we want to feel. Be aware of how difficult life events, someone else’s opinion, or negative thoughts governed by stories of past trauma, can easily sway how we actually want to feel through the holidays, and in life.
With practice, and showing loving kindness to ourselves, we will move towards a more joyful and peaceful state of being.