We're talking about mindfulness and today the topic is how to ‘Overcome Holiday Sadness’. We are going to explore this feeling that there's gloom and doom surrounding the holiday. Do you have a sinking feeling at times and you just feel like you can hardly drag yourself through it? You look around seeing the bright colored lights, hearing the music, with apparent happiness everywhere. You wonder why you feel empty and alone. The holiday season can be a challenge for many people. Is it difficult for you, someone you know or maybe a partner or family member? Today I’ll be talking about self-blame, boundaries, self-forgiveness, and asserting your truth. I want to talk about rediscovering your confidence, and regaining your vibrancy. At this time of year most people want to experience peace, contentment, and happiness. Listen & Subscribe on: iTunes / Stitcher / Podbean / Overcast / Spotify Emotional Pain Confidentiality is important in my practice as I work with clients who experience many difficulties and emotional challenges. It’s rewarding to work with a client and then have them express to me how much better they feel and how effectively their issue is solved through hypnosis. Today, I'm going to share with you some information from one of my clients who is happy to use her name and her testimonial. She wants to share her experience with the world because she feels so much better after suffering a lot of emotional pain. The Transition Natalya has had significant struggles in her life. She came from the Ukraine and life was not very good there at the time. She had a young child and she and her husband brought their child to Canada. They overcame a lot of their challenges. But more recently, she started dealing with some emotional pain that was really holding her back and causing her to struggle. And so I worked with her using hypnosis and she was astounded at the transition she experienced. Derailed? This feeling that the whole world is happy, but you are not, is quite common. Sometimes this feeling is related to self blame it sometimes is connected to a belief that you haven't succeeded in life. Some people feel as though they haven’t made the right decisions or done the right things to be successful in life. Self-blame, or self-bullying can pull us down in a major way. It's your inner bully that is pulling you down and causing you to feel derailed. Push it? There are ways to deal with that inner bully. And one of the ways is to just allow the feelings to happen. Notice these emotions and allow them to be what they are. One of the tendencies that we have as humans is, we start to feel these negative emotions, and we tend to push them away. We are inclined to think, oh, I don't like that feeling, I don't want that. And so we do something to push the emotion away. Stop And what do we do to push the emotions away? Some of us get busy, we just keep working, working, working and trying forget about the negative emotions. Some of us entertain ourselves by watching tv or movies, playing games, cleaning, or even taking care of people. Some of us eat or consume alcohol or other substances. Instead of covering up the feelings, accept them, face them, and learn to exist with those emotions. Allow them to happen. Notice them in your body. And when I say notice them in your body, stop, take a breath, and notice where the feeling exists in your body? Is it in your chest? Is it in your shoulders, or your gut? Really stop and feel where it is in your body and allow yourself to go there and feel that feeling. Boundaries I also want to talk about boundaries. We need to set boundaries and allow ourselves to give ourselves what we need and what we thrive on. Some of us need quietness, some need space, and some thrive on peace. Sometimes your life is hectic, and chaotic and we forget or don’t give ourselves permission to give ourselves the very thing that we truly need. Maybe you just truly need 15 minutes of privacy or solitude. A