As we approach the Christmas holiday season, we all need to ask: will it be the “Silly Season,” where we all eat too much, drink too much, and don’t cope well with all the family situations that may present at this time of year – or will we choose to care for ourselves, look after our bodies and our wellbeing, enjoy and appreciate those around us to the best of our ability, and work to build connection with our loved ones in whatever way that may take shape?
The choice is always ours – it will never be perfect but there is always joy to be found and it will be what we make of it.
Simple choices – like avoiding alcohol, drinking plenty of water, not eating that second or third helping, having smaller servings of dessert or avoiding sugar and sweets altogether – all support our body to stay clear and light. And if we find it hard to make these choices, instead of giving ourselves a hard time we can gently work to understand why. For example, is there something that we don’t want to feel or something we don’t know how to deal with, so we eat or drink to numb ourselves a little (or a lot!). Choosing to feel what is there to feel can short-circuit the choice to have that drink or that extra piece of pudding.
What can also be challenging at this time of year is dealing with family situations where much that has remained unresolved during the year presents itself. This can be challenging but it also presents us with an opportunity to heal what has remained unhealed or unsaid throughout the year. If we can appreciate who the other person is, and not get caught up in their – or our – behaviours or emotional reactions, then a tremendous amount of healing is on offer.
Some tips that can support us during the Christmas season are:
- Minimising intake or abstaining altogether from alcohol helps us to cope better with everything – physically and emotionally. Alcohol is toxic and if we are totally honest, most of us feel much better when we don’t drink it.
- Doing our best to minimise sugar, sweets and too much heavy food will also support our body immensely.
- Getting to bed early, not getting caught up in that extra conversation or sitting in front of the computer or TV supports our body to rest well.
- Not feeling like we have to ‘please’ everyone. It’s not our job to do everything for everyone – we can focus on just being ourselves, caring for ourselves, feeling what is needed in any situation, what is considerate of everyone including ourselves, and where the load can be shared.
- Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate! Appreciate ourselves and our amazing qualities (yes, we do have lots!), and appreciate all others that we meet and spend time with. A focus on appreciation reminds us who the other person truly is, adds a great depth of joy to our interactions, and helps us to not get caught up in emotional situations.
Will we be caught up in the ‘Silly Season’ this Christmas, or will we choose to care for ourselves and enjoy and appreciate those around us? These are the ultimate gifts we can give to ourselves and others…
By Kathy Byrne, Nutritionist and Health Practitioner, Brisbane
Related Reading:
What I Love about Christmas
In what Quality do we do Christmas?
Women, excessive tiredness and Christmas stress
Words on Serge Benhayon 
Thank you Cathy, silly as it may seem we just had the silliest year as the lies about Saint Nick palled into insignificance to the greed and corruption that was flaunted in our face in 2020. So as you have shared, if ” we choose to care for ourselves and enjoy and appreciate those around us? These are the ultimate gifts we can give to ourselves and others rather than being shut down.
Gregbarnes888 totally agree with you that the ultimate gift that we can give to ourselves is beyond any material gift we can be given.
Absoulutely Mary much is returned to when we re-align to our Soul and thus to heaven and God.
At a time when we are living in close quarters with family is an opportunity to deepen our relationships and appreciate all we offer each other.
Giving us purpose at one time a year to celebrate where we come from and to live that level of energetic truth can be shared equally with everyone, as Christmas as it is, at the moment, will implode on itself as truth will share how we can expose and prevent evil, as so many of the teachings of Serge Benhayon do.
I’d say any time of indulgence is a time to look at what am I sensitive to/about? Whats going on that I am pulled to indulge in something?
Absolutely Leigh, we can always find a way to worm out of responsibility, instead of surrendering and deepening our awareness so we can hold all others in sacredness as Virgo shares.
It’s a strange attitude that we can see trashing our bodies as having a good time. I used to be there myself and see over eating, gourmet foods, etc as a lot of fun. Now I consider my body and how it feels and am building a quality of love within myself which I hold as precious, and the overeating is felt from the body as something very uncomfortable and self harming. Listening to and respecting the body is now part of self love for me, and feeling and preserving that quality of love within myself is much greater than any outer experience could provide.
I’m waking up from the deep slumber I have been in where as you say Melinda we feel that trashing our bodies is having a good time, I have been there, done that and got the Tee shirt as we say. The change around comes when we reconnect back to ourselves and a feeling flowers into the true grandness that we are; then the realisation dawns that actually our bodies are incredibly precious and if we are so precious how could we possibly trash ourselves again, you cannot it’s impossible.
When we actually deal with our issues and hurts regarding family coming together is actually joyful. It’s not our family that causes all the strife it’s the hurts, beliefs of ‘it should be different’, unmet expectations that we carry that all get in the way of people enjoying spending time with family.
That’s exactly it Leigh, and the belief it should be different, instead of working with life exactly as it is and growing in understanding, and allowing our relationships to heal. Without realising it we are a demanding lot as human beings, instead of allowing ourselves and each other space, which is what I am learning at the moment, as well as being love without conditions.
Appreciation is so important, as with it we understand how appreciating works, and then we live in a way that we can never drop out of appreciation, as it becomes a foundation we set as our standards. Thus appreciating who we are in essence, the being that Love can come in and through.
“A focus on appreciation reminds us who the other person truly is, adds a great depth of joy to our interactions, and helps us to not get caught up in emotional situations.” For me that is the best tip ever as it is useful in every situation of our life.
Over and over again we can fall for the traps offered around us constantly, not just in the Silly Season. The first way to begin freeing oneself of the traps is to allow oneself to feel them and acknowledge that they are there and that we have fallen for them over and over again. Then it is about letting ourselves explore how that feels to fall for it, and what it feels those times we do not choose to fall for it. This is always a work in progress and being free from a trap cannot come from a head decision, but must come from the honesty of the body having felt what it feels like to be in the trap.
Henrietta Chang thank you it has just dawned on me that when we hold on to something it’s because we do not want to disclose what we have been up to. So we hang onto the energy. By giving ourselves permission to let go of all the things we did, should of said, didn’t say, all those feelings we bottled up because we didn’t think there was anyone to support or would want to hear or even know about those feelings, to let them go is enormous because it gives us a greater sense of space in our bodies. Like cleaning out a cluttered cupboard throwing away all the accumulated stuff we think we need but actually don’t need.
The Silly Season’s most pertinent question: Will we really look after ourselves?
We can get caught in a pattern and keep repeating the same choices as we have, but the cycle keeps offering us opportunities to make different choices if only we can allow ourselves to be very honest with ourselves.
Great question Kathy; ‘Will we be caught up in the ‘Silly Season’ this Christmas, or will we choose to care for ourselves and enjoy and appreciate those around us?’ I love the simplicity of enjoying and appreciating those around us rather than getting up in all of the pressure for Christmas to be a certain way.
Your list of simple choices is like the puppy, it is not just for Christmas, it is for life.
Your list of tips should be a Christmas Card!
I am deeply appreciating how I am around Christmas now, compared to the stress, tension and drive I used to go into around this time of year. Sharing a delicious meal in gorgeous company, that everyone has taken part in preparing together, and appreciating each other – nothing silly about that.
The gift of appreciation for ourselves and others is the best antidote to the Silly Season – a great reminder not just at Christmas but all the year round.
There is definitely a tension that exists at this time of year that is very much clearly felt. There is an intensity to life that ramps up, whether it be getting things done at Christmas or winding up before the work winds down, just to get things done. I have succumbed to this and found myself eating all sorts of things, so I can certainly understand why eating goes to a whole new level at this time of year. This is the time of year where reflecting on the last 12 months is highlighted for us. What’s highlighted for me is the quality in which this is done. Is it supportive and loving or is it one of self critique?
Its extrememly liberating to take the stress out of Christmas and simply approach it as a time for sharing and appreicating one another. Take away the pressure and it simply becomes another beautiful day, with perhps a few more people around you than usual.
A Day that is supposedly different does not happen unless we make it so, so every day should be a celebration of our lived way or as you have shared Sandra, “another beautiful day”.
I love your tips about how to be in the ‘silly season’… The top one for me is not to people please and the second biggie is to appreciate everyone. I will definitely be putting this into practice this year.
Appreciating and loving myself with everything I bring is key to supporting me but not just at Christmas time but through every day of the year.
I used to see a psychiatrist for many years and they told me that the time of Christmas was a very stress-full time of year because it is when the parents are not at work but on holiday as are the children and they are not used to being together at home in such a way and the stress of this brings out the worst in people and that’s why there is a spike in domestic unrest leading to violence at this time of year. So in effect words such as peace on earth goodwill towards men means nothing to us they are just platitudes.
Surely we should be choosing to take care of ourselves and others everyday? Surely we should at the very least be respectful to and with our family and friends and all others not just at special times of the year? Why wait until Christmas?
Besides the madness of this season, our new major concern has become; where is, my parcel and the missing parts!
What would our lives look like if we applied the same amount of effort we put into the holiday season, to care for ourselves all year round?
‘Not feeling like we have to ‘please’ everyone. It’s not our job to do everything for everyone – we can focus on just being ourselves, caring for ourselves, feeling what is needed in any situation, what is considerate of everyone including ourselves, and where the load can be shared.’ I’m working on this in my everyday life- my people pleasing has run deep!
With Christmas only a few days it is always important to remember this and how we can make it a time to reflect on the year and what is next or to get caught up in all the dramas.
If we cannot let go of something that in honesty we know is not healthy for us we need to bring understanding to ourselves. Fighting the habit or trying to distract myself from the habit has never worked.
Very true Leigh, any past hurt or issues will never be fully resolved until we bring understanding to it and for me that means bringing love to it and letting go of any judgement or blame, towards myself or others.
Why do we lower our standards for the holiday season by indulging in everything from spending so much it will take till next Christmas to pay off and the weight we have gained from consuming everything thing in copious amounts, will hang around for months.
A very good question Steve. It does seem crazy that we over indulge so much at this time of year, only to spend as you say the next few months paying for it, not just financially, but in all sorts of other ways as well.
I agree Steve, it makes no sense what so ever apart from for me it could be because it is a distraction away from the events of the year and the past. Rather than a celebration of the year that was and the year to come.
‘Silly Season’ is a very good description of this time of the year because a majority of us lose ourselves in the doing and need to meet the pictures and images around Christmas. But if we connect to what this time of the year offers us, it is actually very beautiful, it calls us to connect to stillness, it offers us opportunities to deeply connect and celebrate coming together. But if we resist we easily get caught up in the ‘Silly Season’.