Four Secrets to Heal Your Holidays

H Help Others
E Enjoy What You Have
A Ask for What You Want
L Let Go

Do you have any examples of any of these categories you'd like to share in my book?

Vicki

Peace and Serenity Equal Healing

Just to be clear, by "healing" I do not necessarily mean any big, cathartic epiphany. I just want to feel better and I want to do all my holidays in a way that brings me peace and even joy.

Here's an example I got from a psychiatrist friend of mine. he advises his clients to slow down during the holiday season, literally. He urges them to walk slowly, paying attention to every step. When you take out your car keys, pay attention to how they sound and how the key fist into the lock.

Whenever you find yourself hurrying, slow way down. Way down. Breathe, look around, smile, and give appreciation to the people around you. You will find more serenity and peace and your day, your holiday and your life will be more healing and healthy.

Vicki

An Invitation to be Part of Holidays that Heal

Greetings!

I hope your holiday season was full of love and connection. I had the best holiday season I've ever had because I decided three years ago I was going to figure out how to make my holidays heal instead of hurt.
My quest to heal my personal holidays has led to a book: Holidays that Heal Instead of Hurt. I'm collecting ideas from people on what they have done to transform longing and pain during holidays into healing and gratitude.
Here is the story that inspired me to put my quest into a book:

A friend of mine, Donnie, was adopted as a baby. His adopted family is now all gone and his birth mother, his only blood relative, is in a care facility. A few years ago he decided to transform his pain and loss into a gift for others. He took his viola to his local Emergency Room and started playing his viola. He was asked to come into other wards and he spent his Christmas Holiday feeling deeply loved and loving deeply.

Do you have a story I could use or idea I could include in my book? If so, please take a moment to reply to this post or drop my and email at vicki@stepintoyourgreatness.us

You don’t have to write out a lengthy story, but that would be great if you are so inclined. I'm looking to share as many voices in this book as I can. I want this book to be a healing buffet for anyone who reads it.
More background on the book project:

The Secret is out. Holidays are difficult for many people, maybe even most people. I kept this as my dirty little secret for years. I thought if I were any kind of successful human being, I would have holidays I could look forward to with eager anticipation instead of dread. For most of my life I have felt like one of those waifs in Christmas movies who are outside in the drizzle looking in through the window at families gathered around a table full of harmony and love. I felt like an Outsider during the holidays. Like a fraud.

This was a horrible secret to keep. Once I started speaking my pain, which I could do once I started taking action to alleviate it, I found to my surprise that many people felt as I did. Even though their lives looked like dream lives to me, , deep in their bellies they felt the same longing I did.

Once I let my longing move from the shadows into the light, I got excited about the potential. If we started sharing our stories, if I collected those stories and put them in a book, perhaps many of us could transform our holidays into times of healing instead of times where our wounds rise to the surface and our pain threatens to overwhelm us.

So if you feel inclined, please share any ideas for healing or stories you have with me. I’m hoping to put this book together in a few months. My other book, Woman with a Voice: Daring to Live Authentically Ever After, www.stepintoyourgreatness.us is a rich meal that needs to be savored over time. This book, on the other hand, is meant to be a laser beam of healing. Easy to pick up, find just what you need, and move on. I'd like to sell a million copies. Why not?


Blessings,
Vicki