Want to deepen your living experience with the current Holiday and Spring Break?

Seasons, Holidays, Changes and Shifts. With every season of the year theres a newness, a rebirthing, a shifting. As well, with every season of our lives, there are changes. Tight spaces, wide spaces, new spaces and old spaces. There’s darkness, and light. Empty branches and then, blossoming flowers.

And as we go into the holiday and/or spring break season, we’re met with so much noise. The rush, hustle, buzz, movement and lists galore. And then there are the quieter moments; moments filled with silence, pressures, unspoken sadness and confusions and moments of joy, connection, possibilities and wonders. This blend is what it’s all about.

Having time off is an opportunity to notice the noisy parts of life as well as the quieter aspects of our lives.

At every phase of life, there are different emotions that come up as we embrace holiday and vacation time, and that’s simply part of being human. However, how do you maximize and deepen your current time off {or “on”} as you experience the very-much-ness and the shift in schedule?

The way to infuse meaning and value to anything in life is to give it a structure, a space and an awareness.

2 Questions to ask yourself.

Hold these two questions in mind as you go about your days.

1) What am I wanting to teach?

What lesson do I feel important to impart to those around me?

We impact each on in so many ways and on so many levels, emotionally, spiritually, energetically and interpersonally.

Are there important lessons you’ve been learning that you want to share with those you’re in contact with?

Your children, your relatives, friends neighbors or colleagues.

• PLAY. Lessons such as remembering to add play to everyday life.

• INTEGRITY. Lessons about Integrity and how to find your own way of living with integrity {edit to age-appropriate language}.

• CHANGE IS CONSTANT. The concept of seasons and holidays are reminders that things come and go, round and round. There’s always another opportunity around the corner, and life may surprise you when you least expect it.

• KINDNESS. Practicing Kindness and Compassion. Model how to be kind by your tone of voice and how and when you choose to give to another in need of a caring touch, a listening ear or an extra set of hands.

• GRIEF IS ALLOWED. Permission to Grieve. For those going through a change or loss, holidays and times off bring up grief and sadness. And often, I hear of how many felt that they need to “pull it together” and be ok because it’s “chill-time”. When you allow someone the space to be real, raw, authentic and truthful about their experience, you offer a true gift. A gift that is part of their healing. Some many need to know that it’s ok to grieve and you can be the person letting them know its ok.

• OWN YOURSELF. Young ones {and old, often as well} need to remember to stand their ground, learning how to own who you are and not standing in the shadow of someone else

• EMBRACE POSSIBILITIES. Not getting stuck, stuck in social pressures, unrealistic fantasies or stuck in thinking you are who you were yesterday or last year. Let that go and embrace; in whatever area you’re needing to embrace what is, what can be, and what will slowly happen, in its right timing for you.

And for the second question:

2) What am I needing to learn? What lesson am I needing to anchor into as I move into the next phase or season of life?

As humble travelers on this world our greatest purpose is infusing meaning in our lives, and we do just that by continuing to learn.

….And the learning is what transforms all parts of our lives.

Many of you have probably experienced that some of the most impactful “lessons” aren’t acquired from sitting in a class or attending a lecture.

It’s often in the hum-drum of life, in the not-knowing-what’s-coming-next, in the confusion, the seeking and subsequent sparks of clarity that challenge us to uncover invaluable lessons of life.

So turning this inward, take note of yourself, and where you’re at.

What is it that you’re truly needing to feel centered, motivated and focused as you move through your own personal “season” ahead?

• FIND FREEDOM. Are you needing to find your own form of “freedom”, a sense of possibility or newness?

• REMINDER OF YOUR ESSENCE. Do you need a reminder that stressors and pressures don’t define who you are but it’s more about how you move through them?

• SNAPSHOT IN TIME. Do you need a snapshot back into last year, and realize that you’ve changed, and will keep changing as life asks it of you.

• YOU CAN BLOSSOM. Are you feeling stunted and stuck and are needing a gentle reminder that you, too, can blossom? Each of us, in our own personalized ways, can blossom, create, impact and shift. And you can too!

  Here’s your gentle nudge {only if you’re needing one} to take that small step to blossom in whatever area you’re needing, be it personally, professionally, spiritually, emotionally, physically socially or relationally.

• DEEPEN CONNECTIVITY. Needing more of a “holding space” in your life? You can deepen the way you connect to others by being more real, vulnerable and honest with yourself about what it is you need.

  And then going a step further and cultivating deeper, more meaningful relationships with those already in your life- and/or slowly building new connections with people who have the capacity to be there in the ways you’re learning you need at this point of life.

As you move forward with your next step, your next interaction and next thought, hold these in mind. You’ve got a stretch of a good couple of days to chew on some of these ideas. And if you feel confused because your questions or “answers” don’t come forward like a flash of lightning, its’s ok! Sometimes, it’s the compilation of a few different experiences that bring an insight, a newfound clarity or an answer you’ve been seeking, and that’s how wisdom often unfolds.

Life isn’t linear, it’s spirilic in nature, unending and evolving. You evolve as the world around you evolves and changes. As you evolve and transform, you create transformative effects on those around you.

Whatever phase you’re currently in, my hope is that you widen your horizons to sense the possibilities beneath the noise, that you know your power lying beneath the exhaustion, and that you hold open the doors that allow newness to enter your life.

These are some of the basic ingredients to a more powerful, joyous experience, however life present itself right here, right now.

May you experience many moments of joy and ease as you walk into the full days ahead!

*originally posted on integrativepsych.co