Finding Holiday Joy by Letting Go of Past Hurts

Do the holidays delight you, or do they fill you with dread? For many people, the holidays are fraught with emotion and difficulty.

Whether it’s enduring mealtime with a dysfunctional family or facing feelings of loss and loneliness, the holidays can be stressful and disruptive to your body, your emotions, and your routines.

Emotional baggage of past holidays and unresolved issues between family members can turn holiday gatherings into disasters. While you may or may not be able to resolve issues with others, you can take steps to heal your own emotions.

Energy healing tools such as The Emotion Code® are designed to help people let go of Trapped Emotions, emotional baggage from difficult and traumatic events. Working on yourself, or with a certified Emotion Code practitioner, you can identify troubling emotions that have become lodged in your body and release them forever. This makes it easier to forgive others, and yourself, so you can celebrate the season with greater joy.

In addition to clearing emotional baggage, here are additional tips to make the holidays more joyful, calm, and bright:

1. Decide ahead to be flexible about your expectations. Everyone else has expectations and sometimes they won’t match with yours. Plan for spontaneity. If you allow the plans of others to be a part of what brings you joy, you’ll have more fun as everyone shares ideas and activities.

2. Be aware of what your body needs. This includes healthy food, plenty of water, rest, and exercise. Don’t throw your routines out the window just because of the holidays. Find a way to exercise so you’ll feel good. You can climb the stairs several times if you can’t make it to the gym. Continue eating healthy even when those around you don’t. At holiday meals, share stories so you’re talking more and eating slowly. Enjoy salad so you’ll fill up on live food instead of the sugary desserts. You’ll feel better about yourself if you’re really taking care of your body.

3. Decide to take care of yourself emotionally. You may need specific things, such as the emotional support of a spouse, a lunch date with a friend, or even just some time alone. Decide how busy you want to be and how thin you want to spread yourself with holiday responsibilities and shopping. For example, don’t volunteer to cook dinner for the entire extended family if it interferes with your health, interrupts your family time, or feels like it’ll cause too much stress for you.

4. Communicate with love. If you’re feeling stressed about family interactions, try going outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air. This is a better solution than another piece of pumpkin pie and will be easier to live with later. Be kind to everyone, including yourself. Give hugs. Make sure you’re not overreacting. None of us communicate perfectly. Try to see what others really mean, not just what they say. Give them the benefit of the doubt because it’s likely no offense was meant. Ask for clarification and react appropriately with kindness, love, and forgiveness. Some people really don’t have a handle on their behavior, but it doesn’t have to affect how you feel or be your problem.

5. Be among friends. If the absence of a family is your problem, join a group of other singles and have a potluck where you can focus on creating new friends and “family” instead of mourning your lack thereof. You don’t always have control over what happens to you, but you can choose to respond proactively. Be the one who makes the holidays fun for others and it will be more joyful for you. Plan activities in advance so you’ll have things to look forward to.

6. Strive for a state of acceptance and understanding of others. If there is someone who has hurt or wronged you in some way, and you haven’t forgiven them, your stress level will inevitably be greater than it should. The higher path of the spirit is to be at peace with the universe and with all our fellow beings. None of us are perfect and we all have reasons for acting the way we do. Learn to let things go and be generous and kind.

Letting go of Trapped Emotions and past hurts, striving to forgive others, and taking care of yourself and your physical and emotional needs — these are gifts you can give to make the holidays more joyful and bright.

~Dr. Bradley Nelson