LIGHTen UP Stay Calm and Carry On
L-Love yourself
I-Illuminate the true spirit of holidays
G-Give the gift of love to yourself and others
H-Honest appraisal of how you feel and what’s going on
T-Trust your inner knowing to guide you
I – Illuminate -to shine light on something, brighten something, clear and easier to understand, spiritually enlightened
When you see the beautiful colors of the clouds and the sky illuminated by the setting sun, doesn’t your heart open and don’t you feel illuminated with light and love?
Or the light shining in a child’s eyes as they see something for the first time, the brilliant light of a full moon, or opening your Facebook or Pinterest page and seeing an inspiring image and beautiful words that touch you?
Don’t you feel illuminated when you see the light of understanding dawning on someone’s face or seeing something as simple as beautiful, decorative lights at Christmas time?
How do you start to illuminate the holidays?
What is truly important to you? What messages do you want to give to your family and those around you during the holidays? How do you want to highlight the holidays this year?
Illuminate yourself from the inside out! Illuminate your true spirit.
Listen to the answers with your heart. Don’t listen to the voice telling you what you should do or that you must repeat what you have done in the past.
Joy comes from heart-felt giving and living. You can’t be LIGHT and carry a sense of dread thinking about the holidays. (Remember to be LIGHT you must start with L – Love yourself in the first two blogs).
Remind yourself to be light in your movements through each day with the additional tasks, errands and all that comes with the holidays. Check in every now and again to notice how you are holding up and reacting to things.
Are you moving through the holidays tired, with an “I do it all” attitude, or with the energy of the Grinch? You can complain about the commercialism, focus only on the external holiday meal, parties and gift giving or illuminate what is truly the spirit of the holidays.
Ideas to Illuminate Thanksgiving and Create Gratitude all year around
Thanksgiving originated as a day “to set aside time to express our blessings”. In many families there is sharing and celebration over a meal to give gratitude for the blessings of the year.
What do you want to illuminate about this Thanksgiving? Do you want Thanksgiving to be the only day that you or your family counts your blessings or expresses gratitude? Positive Psychology researchers have found that people who express thanks for three blessings a day are happier, healthier, and, yes, a bit richer.
How can you cultivate gratitude in your family year round?
Gratitude Ideas
• Even the smallest children can come up with blessings or things they are grateful for each day. Part of the trick is to vary the routine.
• Some families have a gratitude or blessing jar (great with school age kids). They write what they are grateful for, and if there is a day where it is hard to be grateful they can pick out of the gratitude jar. You can start a gratitude book, paper or photo book. One you can touch or even an album on your iPad or computer
• Or, just simply, each day at a family meal, share three things you are grateful for that day. It’s literally impossible to be grumpy and truly grateful!
http://martysmusings.net/2014/10/family-blessing-jar.html
Good questions to ask:
• What are the core values you want to illuminate during the holidays?
• What do the holidays remind you and your family to celebrate?
• What do you want to illuminate (and have your children learn) about the holidays to remind you of for every day of the year?
• What lights you as a spiritual being that you want to share? How can you bring more of that into your holidays?
Inspire another woman. Post on the blog or on Facebook.com/AngelVioletsMagicWings during Angel Violet’s Pre Holiday Facebook Party Heart Centered Holidays on November 18th-20th and share what you do to illuminate the true spirit of the holidays.
LIGHTen up stay calm and carry on,
Bonnie
PS If you are looking for a special family Blessing Bowl for the holidays you may like this one: http://diamond pathways.com/resources/gifts/