Obliterate Holiday Anxiety in 60 Seconds

We are getting closer to the holidays
and the end of 2017, feeling anxious yet?

How about when well-intentioned people confront you with the inevitable "so what are YOUR New Years Resolutions?" Or you end up getting a gift from your Dad that you gave him three years ago?

My favorite holiday anxiety is being in the same room as people I would never even think about giving my social contact info too. So what to do when these and other holiday anxiety-provoking situations inevitably come to pass?

I have some ideas to help reduce holiday anxiety in 60 seconds or less.

Let's face it, although these things are irritating, they are not life or death situations. So first, recognize this, allow your rational mind to confront that knee-jerk emotional reaction.

DO NOT allow your emotional state to dictate your thoughts. Once you understand that you are experiencing an unpleasant feeling only that it is neither permanent or life-threatening...time to center yourself. Now, normally, if you have time, I would recommend engaging in some meditative activity, be it physical (exercise), cognitive (reading) or actual sitting meditation (zazen)...that is the ideal.

However, in the situations I described, you have to do some down and dirty emotional centering right where you are located (or sneak off to the bathroom, like I used to do). So...time to tame the anxious monkey brain through a simple breathing exercise.

Now, there's a myriad of breathing exercises out there, just do a simple google search, they range from the very simple to the very complex. The one which works for me is a breathing exercise

I have named the "5 by 5." It was taught to me by a mentor several years ago, I'm not sure where he learned it or if he made it up. Anyway, I find this breathing exercise calms me down while allowing me to refocus and become emotionally centered again.

Very simply, the exercise is this...breath in through the nose while counting to five (do it in your head...you don't want to sound like a freak), then hold that breath while counting to five again. Finally, breath out through the mouth while counting to five.

Do this five times and this will help you stay grounded...even when Uncle Ned asks you why you aren't married for the third time in the last two years.

Hopefully, these tools help you to reduce
holiday anxiety in 60 seconds or less.

Sherpa's Corner