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Stay Balanced, Healthy & Joyful this Holiday Season


By Dr. David Simon & Dr. Deepak Chopra D


uring the holidays, many of us experience a bewildering array of emotions—the simultaneous joy and stress of spending time


with loved ones, the inspiration of sacred traditions, and gratitude for the many blessings of our lives intermingled with feelings of sorrow, loss, or longing. If you’re feeling out of sorts, the following suggestions can help you restore your balance, soothe your stress, and expand your experience of joy.


1) Tune into Your Inner Wisdom Since ancient times, winter has been a time for deep rest and going


within. Even as the outer world encourages frenetic busyness, you can stay connected to your wise inner voice and honor your body’s needs for extra sleep, quiet, or stillness.


Instead of letting the demands of travel, family visits, and parties throw you off balance, stay centered and calm by maintaining time in your daily schedule to practice meditation, yoga, or other mindfulness tools.


2) Create New Family Dynamics


“If you think you are enlightened, try spending an hour with your family.” This quote attributed to Ram Dass pithily expresses the very common, almost predictable, tendency to regress when we go home or spend time with our parents, siblings, and other close relatives.


Here are a few suggestions that will help you stay in your most evolutionary, adult self:


Realize that everyone feels the same pull to regress. This may not be easy, because there is always one family member who jumps ahead of the pack to make everybody feel stressed. This person is the most insecure, and so he or she compensates by trying to shove everyone else back into a box or old role. You can choose not to cooperate or react from the same old conditioned patterns.


Practice seeing with “fresh eyes.” It’s easy to assume that we know who our mom, dad, sister, or other family member is. After all, we’ve known them our entire lives. This year try an experiment—imagine you’re


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