Reframing for the Holidays

I’m not talking about reframing your pictures, but rather reframing your thoughts!

The countdown to the holidays are on, the snow is starting to pile up making travel a bit slower, line ups are a bit longer, work demands are increasing as you prepare for some time off, and your credit card is working overtime. We all know that this can be a time of year when the pressure starts to rise, the stress starts to take hold, and chances are you might find yourself a little short or impatient with those you love, and/or that sore throat starts to bother you.

Is this you I am referring to?

I know I am certainly capable of this behavior at times, and as soon as I noticed it, help was delivered to me – not once, but twice!

I regularly follow the blogs/newsletters of two women, both of whom this week wrote about how to look at situations differently!

Deb Dunn, http://getitdunn.ca/blog/?p=212 in her blog post entitled 12 Days of Joyful Reconnection talks about how she was feeling waiting in a long line at the post office. The service was slow, she found herself criticizing the postal workers etc. etc.

“As I grew more annoyed I noticed that my body was also tensing up and I immediately realized I needed to do something differently. I needed to change the way I was thinking.”

Deb then goes on to talk about what thoughts she focused on to reframe her thinking, and ends up with the following comment:

“Shifting my mood from annoyed and stressed to playful changed everything for me. It seemed like the line moved faster, I received great service and when I left, both the clerk and I were laughing”

Jeannette Koczela, in her blog post entitled Gratitude for What Didn’t Happen http://empoweredspiritcoaching.com/blog/ talks about taking a bad situation (car troubles) and feeling positive about it.

“Last week my alternator broke down on my car and it was barely able to limp into the repair shop before it died completely. The battery light had gone on the night before and I made an appointment the next day to have it checked out. I ran one errand before going to the shop and when I came out the car wouldn’t start at first, then would only go about 15 miles an hour, and the lights, clock, and turn signals weren’t functioning all the way to the repair shop. It was kind of scary.”

“But what was even scarier was that it didn’t happen the day before. We had just driven to Milwaukee (a 7-hour drive) and back for Thanksgiving weekend. When I brought the car to the repair shop, the attendant couldn’t understand why I was so happy. “The alternator broke today, not yesterday,” I said. I was so grateful for what didn’t happen—that it could have broken during the trip.”

Each of us have a choice in every moment, and that choice is to feel a little better or to feel a little worse. It is that simple, feel a little better, or feel a little worse.

I invite you, over the holidays, to play with guiding your thoughts in the direction of things that feel good, and discover the power that comes with this. Watch how lines move quicker, sales people are more pleasant, and lights turn green for you more often.

Share with me your stories, and in turn I’ll share them with others. Tell me how you are turning your thoughts around this holiday season.

Happy Holidays

Marlene