holidays | pg.3

For many people, this is a time wrought with pain and suffering from failed relationships, financial challenges, job dissatisfaction and self-worth issues. Today I want to share a tool to help you or someone you love transform feelings of depression by looking at circumstances as gifts.

“I feel out of sync with my family of origin around the holidays, when I spend more time with them than usual,” wrote one reader recently. “They aren’t interested in honest communication, working on relationships, or other things that are important to me … How can I deal with this in a positive way?

Right-click to download a free sample podcast from the Gaiam Yoga Club with Colleen Saidman and Rodney Yee

Holidays! Uggghhh. How do we navigate this season of so many mixed emotions? What is the key to our sanity when all is so chaotic?

I’d heard about pumpkin patches before, and seen plenty of pictures of cherubic babies propped up in the midst of a field of orange, but I’d never actually been to one. How cool could it be? And how much better (or for that matter, cheaper) could it be than just picking up a few pumpkins at my local Home Depot where they get progressively cheaper the less Jack O’Lantern carving time remains before Halloween.

Has Christmas become an annual nightmare? Has gift giving become nauseatingly decadent? Are family gatherings, or the lack of, a source of endless anxieties? Has the mind recorded all these unpleasant memories and does it seem to play them loudly at about this time of year?

When the holidays approach, we receive a lot of requests from people who are experiencing more conflict and stress in their relationships.

If you’re feeling increased pressures around this time of the year, you’re definitely not alone. Along with the possibilities of great joy in this season come other feelings as well. It’s important to remember that all feelings come through the same “faucet” of your awareness, and that the holidays are an ideal time to open yourself to learning from every relationship moment.

Admit it… you’ve nuked a dish of food and eaten it even if it’s still cold in the middle because you’re too hungry to give it another minute or two in the microwave. And you’ve been known to let the remains of dinner sit out on the counter for hours before packing it up in the refrigerator.