The old year is winding down fast, and the holiday rush tends to make the days—even those we spend away from work or school—go that much faster, and before you know it, the New Year will be here, full of all kinds of possibilities ready for us to grab them if we dare.
But how do we grab those opportunities if our energy is a bit down at best, or worse, frazzled and strained to the point of us truly embodying the phrase ‘at loose ends’ and us feeling drained, physically and psychically?
It’s said that our body is a temple for our soul, our spirit, and so it makes sense that we take care of it on all four levels. The following are amazing tips to help you relax and give you good energy for the new year to come:
- Meditate Often. If you are new to this practise, be relieved when we say that you don’t have to spend hours and hours at it straight away. Just five to ten minutes per day should be plenty to put you on the path to a healthy mind. Just don’t be surprised if the benefits are such that you wind up meditating for longer than the ten minute minimum, just because you want to keep your mind calm as much as possible. Plus, keeping your mind calm helps keep your body calm, reducing the amount of stress hormones flooding your system.
- Cultivate a Positive Attitude. Yes, tough times come into our lives, both emotionally and physically. And yes, it is so easy to succumb to the ‘why me’ feeling running through your mind. But you might want to consider finding a way to halt your tendencies towards negative thoughts, if that’s been your habit for a good while. Meditation, as mentioned above is a good way to get your thoughts turned around. Also, saying, or posting affirmations to your bathroom mirror is another way to help ‘re-program’ your thinking.
Yes, affirmations can seem silly, because at first, they’ll seem like you’re telling yourself lies in the face of your current reality. But believe it or not, the phrase ‘Act as if, until…’ has a very true ring to it. Your subcconscious mind does not really know the difference whether feelings or occurrences have happened yet or not. So, saying things over and over like, ‘I am happy and successful in all my endeavours,’ for example, tells your subconscious mind to believe that it is so, and you’ll start radiating that feeling of being happy and successful, at the very least, let alone drawing to you other physical manifestations of happiness and success that you desire.
- Include Fragrances & Essential Oils. The holiday season itself is often filled with lovely smells that put you in the mood for Christmas cheer, which seems to balance out any problems you might have, dealing with relatives or other sources of stress. Incorporating the aromas of the holidays into your relaxation routines is a good way to stay in the present moment, and stay positive. Essential oils such as peppermint and lavender are uplifting, as are the earthy scents of cleansing herbs such as sage. Use the sage at the end of the year to cleanse your home of any unwanted toxic energy that might have collected, especially if you have relatives who never cease complaining and arguing and bring other toxic energy into your space during the holidays.
- Use Aromatic Candles. If you find the smoke of dried herbs for cleansing a bit problematic for sensitive respiratory systems, be it yours or other people’s, then aromatic candles will do the trick, especially if those candles are handmade, with herbs or flowers mixed in with the wax. But even if there are no herbs or flowers mixed in, just relaxing scents will help uplift both you and the energy in your home. Keep in mind the environmental impact of using petroleum-based candles, and strive to get soya-based wax candles with bamboo wicks. Soya wax burns cleaner as there are no petrochemicals involved, and bamboo wicks are also sustainable.
These are just four ways of uplifting and renewing your energy for 2017, to bring both happiness and prosperity in by way of cleansing your mind, sacred space, and your entire home.