With all the hustle and bustle that comes with the holiday season, we sometimes forget to enjoy it. We’re so caught up in the doing that we sometimes forget how to take pleasure in the moment. The stress this time of year brings can make one feel anxious, tense and worried. To help get a handle on the holidays before we find ourselves crazed and frazzled, consider the ancient practice of meditation. Meditating is simple and inexpensive. It can be done anywhere by anyone, because it doesn’t require any special equipment.
Meditating can benefit not only your physical, but also emotional, well-being. It can clear the fog in your mind, making everything else come into focus. Meditation allows you to focus on the present, helping you enjoy the holidays even more. With that in mind, read on to discover more about the physical and emotional benefits of meditation that are particularly helpful during the holiday season.
- Get to know your true self: This time of year, we tend to focus on others at the detriment to ourselves. With meditation, you can give yourself the best gift of all—getting to know your true self. The mindfulness we achieve through meditation can help us objectively analyze ourselves, so we can focus on being our best selves.
- Be more compassionate: Store check-out lines, congested traffic, extensive gift lists, holiday parties, and such often cause us to get wrapped up in what we need to do. However, mediating can help our interactions with others by making us more compassionate, putting others needs ahead of ourselves. And what better time of year is there to show goodwill towards men?
- Helps fight a cold: The holiday season is a time to spread good cheer; unfortunately, it’s also a time for spreading germs. With cold and flu season upon us, we are mindful of good hygiene habits. But researchers have found that people who exercise their mind through meditation miss fewer days of work from acute respiratory infections, and also experience a shortened duration and severity of symptoms.
- Supports weight-loss goals: This time of year, there’s a lot of emphasis on eating and celebrating at holiday parties. If you try to eat healthy, or struggle with your weight, this time of year can be a great challenge. Practicing meditation can make you more mindful of the amount and type of food (and drinks!) you are consuming.
- Helps you sleep better: During the holiday season, we have visions of being nestled, all snug in our beds. But with so much going on and so much on our minds, sleep often eludes us. Meditating can improve sleep quality because it gives us better control of our emotions and moods during the day. It also helps us manage our stress, giving us a better chance of having a good night’s sleep.
Just thinking about all of the activities the holiday season brings—the shopping, cooking, traveling, and commitments—can wear you out mentally and physically. Mediating can help you de-stress and enjoy the true spirit of this time of year. Just taking a couple of moments of time to relax your mind and spirit through meditation will help you remember what you most enjoy about the holidays.
Resources:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/meditation/HQ01070
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/mindfulness-meditation-benefits-health_
