Month: December 2011

On Christmas Giving.

Christmas day is fast approaching, and I can feel the excitement oozing out of my children.  They are so excited about their presents.  Living in North America, it is so easy to forget how lucky we are to have the lifestyles that we do, compared to other people living in impoverished countries around the world.  Christmas is the season of giving, and I would like to encourage you to think outside of your own family for gift giving this year.  There are a lot of people less fortunate than you, and helping someone out can really make your heart swell with joy.  In our family, we always choose a charity or family to give to each year.  We “give up” our gift exchange and give the money we would have spent to someone who needs it more than we do.  I would encourage you to find a way to give to someone less fortunate than you this Christmas.  Help someone have a Christmas Dinner, or help a family buy a present for their children.  Make food bank donations, or donate your time to help out an organization.  Think about giving and helping and sharing, and together we will make this holiday season brighter for everyone.  Namaste.

Happy Monday!

When life dumps on snow, make snowmen, snow forts, and snow angels.  Try out snow shoes, go skating, skiing or snowboarding.  Don’t have snow where you live? We have lots here to share! Canadian living at its finest! Have a great Monday.  Namaste.

Don’t Worry Be Happy

We all know the popular song, Don’t Worry Be Happy.  When my own mother sang this song at a recent karaoke party, it took the song to a whole new level of positive! The essence of this song is the key to ending your anxieties, and finding your balance of happiness. Stop worrying over things you cannot control.  Control the things you can to the best of your abilities.  And then decide to be happy.  Have a joyous Saturday Night everyone.  Namaste.

Spend it wisely.

“Work is hard. Distractions are plentiful. And time is short.”
Adam Hochschild

When you do have time off, be careful how you spend it.  You cannot get the time that passes back, and you do not want to regret anything.  Focus on the things in your life that you care about most, and give those things as much time as you can by scheduling them first.  And do your best to not get distracted.  Do something fun today… it is Friday!  Namaste.

A thought on Christmas.

Christmas is the time of year that everyone starts feeling overwhelmed and stressed out! Cookies to bake, cards to send, houses to decorate, shopping, parties, kids concerts….Whew! I am exhausted just thinking about it! My advice today is to stop! Christmas is being marketed to you as a consumer, and you do not have to buy into it! If you can do all of the things you feel you have to for Christmas, without feeling stressed, perfect. But if you are already anxious about it, let it go. Christmas will come and go whether you get everything you feel pressured to get done or not. And why not rethink Christmas? For me, the best part about Christmas is that my husband gets a week off because his work closes. And our kids are also off school. So, we get a whole week to spend together as a family. Our focus is on sharing this time with our family, eating, drinking and being merry! Let the stress of Christmas go, and just enjoy it. No one is judging you on your efforts this Christmas, so put some focus back on your family and friends. Namaste.

Don’t do too much.

Feeling stressed and overworked? Not able to take a sick day? Assess what you are doing with your time.  You may have to let something go.  You do not have to do it all, you just have to do what you need to get the results you want.  And if what you are doing causes more stress for you than the benefits, let it go.  Namaste.

Learn it.

Are there things to do around your home that you never have to do, and that you do not know how to do, because you are fortunate enough to have someone do it for you? If you are relying on someone else to take care of things for you, a day may come where you are going to be stuck doing it, and you won’t know how! Be proactive in your life and ensure that you can take care of things yourself.  Granted, you will always have support in your life, but you need to be able to care of yourself and your family on your own as the need arises.  So, if you have a snow blower that you do not know how to use, ask to learn today! If you don’t know how to check the oil in your car, or how to change a tire, learn to do it now! If you’ve never set up the Christmas Tree by yourself, do it today so you can learn.  If you have no idea how to do laundry or how to iron or how to sew, it’s time to learn.  Ask the person who always does these things to show you how.  It is much easier to learn something from the expert in your house than when you are alone and a need arises!  And remember, you CAN do it.  There are always going to be things in our life that we don’t want to do, but have to do,  so we need to know how to do them.  Have an educational day!  Namaste.