Photo Credit: Unsplash/Sharon McCutcheon
By Arielle Giordano
How to reduce stress with creativity this holiday season.
One of the best strategies to reduce holiday stress and tension is to employ creative power, which has the ability to help us see new things and solve old problems in new ways. Creative expression has the potential to bring the unconscious, unknown, hidden, and unseen into our sight. The creative process allows us to become aware of our thoughts and feelings, and to see how we are being, acting, feeling, thinking, and interacting with others. All we need to do is get out of our own way and stop blocking our natural creative flow so we can move in and with it.
Many people are enslaved and feel compelled to uphold holiday traditions, holiday perfection, and having the holidays “a certain way.” Yet the holidays do not have to be in the traditional family setting, even though our grandparents, parents, and family did or still do it this way. Allow this holiday season to mix change with tradition and incorporate new ideas to enliven the holiday setting.
The intention of the holiday season is to share love, give and receive gifts, and connect with family and friends. Keep this intention in your heart, and when you feel uncomfortable or tense about what you are doing, know it is time to stop, take a breath, and change directions. Know that is it okay to make changes and do something new! Take some time to nurture and give back to your creative spirit with family and friends. Have fun, go for walks, ride bikes or go to the gym, for instance.
Being creative is our natural impulse as human beings. Let creative expression and art guide you to let go of stress during the holiday season. Stay focused on the intention of the holidays. Allow yourself to do something new that is more relaxing, adds fun, creativity, and laughter.
Here are a few creative ways to celebrate and enjoy this holiday season:
- Make holiday gifts.
- Mix and match the old traditions with something new.
- Bake holiday cookies, fudge, breads, desserts.
- Read holiday magazines and books full of crafty ideas for gifts.
- Color and scribble with your non-dominant hand OR with your eyes closed alone or with your family.
- Play games, or build things with children.
- Create a collage with old magazines to help strategize all your holiday gifts and goals.
- Create a holiday banner with paints, pastels, markers, or crayons for the family holiday.
- Determine changes you can make to enliven and have fun with family traditions.
- Come up with new ideas and enjoy creativity as a new coping strategy for the holiday season.
Dance through this holiday enjoying doodling, scribbling, painting, dancing, baking, cooking, building, creating new projects, and experimenting with new ideas, fun. You have the freedom to be in the creative moment so enjoy!
Transformational Life Coach Award-Winning Author & Speaker, Professional Dancer. Arielle’s Award-Winning book for Best Self-Help Award: Dancing With Your Story From The Inside is available on http://www.Amazon.com. Her professional career includes the Lead Faculty Area Chairperson and Professor for the College of Humanities, History
and the Arts at the University of Phoenix. She is a published co-author of Transform Your Life Books 1 & 2 and author for Tampa Bay Wellness, Conscious Shift & Transformation magazine. She has published her 4th book, an Instructor’s Manual for Barlow Abnormal Psychology 4th ed. and authored Psychology, A Journey 3rd.ed. Study Guide published
by Nelson Education, Toronto, ON. She has also studied philosophy at the College of Integrated Philosophy with John DeRuiter for twenty years. Arielle has been a featured guest on radio and television, in newspapers, and the media across the US and Canada. She is a certified Essentrics Stretch and Dance Instructor. Arielle offers coaching sessions, classes and workshops and a free 30-minute Consultation. Websites: http://www.dancingfromtheinsideout.com, http://www.ariellegiordano.com. Email: agbeautifuldance@gmail.com