Activating Inspiration over the Holidays

Tis the season- it’s holiday time.    

An interesting time in the calendar; if we look to social media, TV and our email inboxes, it would appear that the season (whether or not you celebrate one of the major religious or cultural holidays) is synonymous with shopping & gift giving, ugly sweater themed cocktail hours, the infamous holiday office party, cookie swaps and Thanksgiving leftovers. 

If we look beyond this glossy exterior, we actually find a more personal, meaningful and vulnerable experience: 

For many, it’s a time of connection and community with family (biological or chosen); for just as many, it can be a painful time of isolation and loss.  

This time of year can spark contemplation, a time for gratitude, reflection and release of the previous year’s lessons and experiences, while others have already written their 2020 resolutions and are eager to embrace the blank slate of a new year and decade.

No matter what, we wish you health, happiness and peace this season. And while your holiday experience is as unique as your fingerprint ,  it’s a wonderful opportunity for all of us to play with creating and sparking our inspiration.   

Let’s explore where you can find inspiration over the holidays. 

While we have a complete list of the 18 engines, we’ve selected a few as a good place to start while you prepare for the holiday season: 

Shared Group Experiences

There are often many opportunities to share experiences with colleagues, friends and families this time of year. Consider taking time this year to be fully present at each gathering, enjoying the connection and special nature of the celebration. Being present will also support you to be empathetic and compassionate; not everyone feels full of joy or holiday cheer, so if you know a colleague, friend, or you yourself needs some extra support, you can be present and provide that support. To be more present, what do you need to do?

Seeking Environments that Move Us

This is a good time to look at the holidays as an opportunity to put yourself in new environments. If your holiday party is always at the same venue, perhaps it is time to look for a new location to celebrate. The same goes for gatherings with friends and family.  Change it up! Are you always on deck for cooking the big meal or hosting brunch? Turn it into a pot-luck or order in. What are new environments you can explore this season? 

Developing New perspectives

The holidays can be a time of overwhelm, overeating, stress, and anxiety. What would it mean if you were to choose to experience this time through a new lens? Perhaps gratitude could be the perspective through which you move through this season? Or, perhaps you could choose compassion, joy, being of service, or curiosity as a new perspective to approach the way you experience the next few weeks. Choosing a new lens is a way to look at things in new ways and can shift the ways that you show up. What is a new perspective you will look through this season?

Grief or Loss

We know just how many of you are facing the holidays while experiencing grief or loss. How might you take time out to acknowledge your emotions? Can you allow yourself to use your emotions as an opportunity to reflect on, mourn, honor, or celebrate those who are no longer with you, that are suffering, or acknowledge and give space for any other loss or hardship you are experiencing? Think about how you are feeling this season, how can you honor these feelings?

Unstructured Think Time

With all of the festivities that the season brings, it can sometimes be overstimulating and exhausting. One way to refuel and recharge is to give yourself the gift of some unstructured quiet time; time when your brain and mind can wander as it likes. Sneak away for a few hours to your favorite bookstore, gym, place of worship or snowshoeing trail. You will be surprised just how inspiring this gift of time can be. What is one way you will carve out unstructured time?

We would love to hear which engines of inspiration are igniting you this season. Please share with us on facebook, linked in and instagram.

We’ve also put this into an easy tool for you to use, download it here.