Finding Calm Amid the Holiday Chaos: The Power of Mindfulness

The holiday season is often depicted as a time of joy, festivity, and togetherness. While many of us experience this as a season of celebration, it can also be stressful and overwhelming. Moreover, for some of us, the holidays may be troubling or even painful given our specific circumstances. Estranged relationships, financial hardships, loss and grief, loneliness, and the overall busyness of the season can contribute to feelings of anxiety, sadness, guilt, isolation, and anger. At Upward we acknowledge the full range of experiences this time of year may embody and advocate for mindfulness as a valuable tool to support and enhance our mental wellness.

Proactive Mental Wellness

Proactively engaging in choices and behaviors to maintain our mental wellness is critical. Mental wellness refers to actively maintaining our mental and emotional well-being through positive practices. By incorporating mindfulness and other positive habits into our daily lives, we build resilience and equip ourselves to manage stress and adversity more effectively. Moreover, mindfulness allows us to optimize positive experiences by increasing our focus and presence, thus enhancing our associated positive feelings.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is defined as moment-to-moment nonjudgmental awareness of your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. It involves being fully aware of where you are and what you are doing, as well as your thoughts and feelings, without being reactive or overwhelmed by what is occurring around you or within you.

The Purpose of Mindfulness

The purpose of mindfulness is to help you self-regulate your attention and emotions to optimize your experiences. Often, when we encounter distressing thoughts or feelings, we immediately attempt to change or fix them. However, this reaction can sometimes create more tension, increasing our distress. Mindfulness teaches us to acknowledge our internal state as it is in the moment without attempting to judge or change it, creating a space for acceptance and peace.

The Benefits of Mindfulness

Research has shown that mindfulness offers numerous mental, emotional, and physical health benefits. Here are two key benefits:

1. Reduces Negative Symptoms: Mindfulness can reduce stress, anxiety, depression, rumination, distraction, pain intensity, and emotional reactivity. By being present and accepting, we decrease the tendency to dwell on past regrets or future worries.

2. Enhances Positive Outcomes: Mindfulness enhances mood, focus, working memory, cognitive flexibility, self-insight, and immune functioning. Studies have shown that mindfulness increases feelings of happiness, compassion, gratitude, and social connectedness.

Mindfulness as a Tool for the Holiday Season

Given the potential stressors of the holiday season, mindfulness can be exceptionally beneficial. Whether you are facing the emotional strain of challenging relationships, financial pressures, loss and grief, or simply the hectic pace of the season, mindfulness offers a way to find calm as well as enhance your experience of positive moments.

Practical Strategies for Enhancing Mindfulness

Mindfulness can be practiced formally through meditation or informally throughout your day. Here are four simple strategies for incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine:

1. Present Focus: Intentionally maintain and redirect your focus to your current experience in the moment. This involves repeatedly bringing your attention back to what you are doing right now, whether it is a task, a conversation, or a simple moment of peace.

2. Acceptance: Acknowledge your current internal state without immediately trying to change it. This can involve naming your emotions and accepting them: “I’m feeling stressed right now. I’m worried about my upcoming family gathering. I’m sad about spending the holidays alone.” By accepting your feelings without judgment, you create a space for greater peace.

3. Pay Attention: Slow down and notice sensations across all five senses for any given experience. Engaging with how an experience impacts you in each sensory domain helps anchor you in the present moment, allowing you to fully experience it.

4. Rediscover the Familiar: Examine and identify details of everyday objects or surroundings during routine activities. This might involve really looking at your favorite coffee mug or the texture of a leaf. By noticing small details, you become more aware of your surroundings and improve your ability to maintain present focus.

Mindfulness Practice Exercise: Breath Awareness Meditation

One common mindfulness practice is Breath Awareness Meditation. This involves focusing closely on the physical sensations accompanying each breath cycle – from the intake of air at the beginning of the inhale through to the end of the exhale and back again. The goal is to maintain focused awareness on your breathing without trying to change it.

Steps for Breath Awareness Meditation:

1. Find a Comfortable Position: Sit or lie down in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.
2. Start with a Deep Breaths: Take a few deep, cleansing breaths to settle into practice.
3. Focus on Your Breath: Pay close attention to the sensation of breathing. Notice the air entering your nostrils, filling your lungs, and the gentle rise and fall of your chest.
4. Observe Without Change: Allow your breathing to remain natural. Whether it is rapid due to stress or slow and relaxed, the goal is to observe your breathing without trying to change it.
5. Practice Regularly: Aim to practice for 5-10 minutes once or twice a day, gradually increasing the duration up to 20 minutes as you become more proficient. You can also use this technique during brief pauses throughout your day.

Seeking Professional Assistance

While proactively attending to your mental wellness is important, understanding when to address mental health issues is equally important. Part of resilience and adapting well to demanding situations or seasons is recognizing when professional assistance may be warranted. Here are four potential indicators to keep in mind when trying to determine if seeing a mental health provider is necessary:

• Excessive Symptoms: symptoms are present more than 50% of the time over an extended period, such as more than two or three months.
• Subjective Distress: symptoms are emotionally upsetting, seem unmanageable, or become a source of conflict in your relationships.
• Impaired Daily Functioning: symptoms interfere with or prevent you from doing what you need or want to do.
• Safety Concerns: thoughts of hurting yourself or others, frequent thoughts about death, or vague “better off dead” feelings.

These are all indications that seeking professional assistance may be helpful. There are many time-limited, evidence-based therapies available for a range of issues, such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, and grief.

The 988 Lifeline is a 24/7 confidential resource for individuals in crisis or with a loved one in crisis. Call or text 988 to speak with someone if you are having thoughts of hurting yourself or are experiencing significant emotional distress. Their website (Get Help - 988 Lifeline)  provides a wide range of resources as well.

If you are struggling with mental health issues and are interested in evidence-based therapy, please contact us to schedule a free 15-minute consultation at 205-983-4063 or via our website.

Conclusion

As the holiday season unfolds, consider integrating mindfulness into your daily routine. Whether you are experiencing joy or facing challenges, mindfulness can help you manage stress and enhance your experience of positive moments.

Take this time to be gentle with yourself and others, embracing the simple joys and nurturing the connections that matter most, including self-connection. The ability to turn your focus inward, recognize your emotional or physical state in the moment, and honor this with acknowledgement and acceptance is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.

From all of us at Upward, we wish you a holiday filled with moments of presence, kindness, and peace.