Holiday Wishes

Here is wishing you and yours a happy holiday season filled with love and laughter.

Well, I don’t know about you, but we are in full swing around here. I have attended 4 out of 5 choir concerts (All three of my kiddos are in choir!)  this season and have been trying to organize the special meals and celebrations to come. I was beginning to feel frazzeled already!I got this message from Rena Hatch who is a Life Coach and truly a maven of self care that really helped me get back into focus on what is important.Check out her message about how her cat inspired her thoughts on self care for the holiday season.  Cats really are pretty wise! All the best, Karen DeBolt, MA Parent Coach and Family Therapist http://www.counselingformoms.com 503-459-2073 Helping families struggling with chaos at home to raise happy, successful children. Okay the hat has got to go! Photo by Delina on Flickr

No Resolutions, just a burning bowl

Several years ago, my family and I created a family ritual to mark the beginning of a new year. It takes the idea of New Years Resolutions and expands it a bit as well as making it a lot more fun. Here’s what we do:

Items to collect:

2 candles – one dark colored like blue and one white
1 fire proof container – we use a ceramic bowl that one of my kids made, but you can also use an ashtray or anything along those lines.
2 pieces of paper for each person
1 envelope for each person

How to do it:

Light both of the candles to set the mood, then pass out the papers. You write on one piece of paper all the things you would like to let go of in the new year. These can be bad habits or qualities that you would like to change or even bad memories or feelings that you have. Then carefully place the paper in the flame of the dark candle and put it in the fireproof bowl. Watch the paper burn as you imagine releasing the items you wrote on the paper.

Then on the other paper, write what you would like to bring into your life in the next year. Write goals, plans, qualities, and feelings you would like to have. Then place the paper in the envelope with your name. Now gaze at the flame on the white candle and imagine what your life will be like when everything that you have written is yours.

Once everyone has completed the ritual we put the envelopes away in a safe place. We review what we wrote on previous years to see what progress we made or whether we changed our minds about what we actually wanted.

Sometimes we share what was written, but that is completely optional.  This should be a nurturing and loving family ritual not a time for teasing. Dreams can be very fragile sometimes.

I hope you will give this a try and let me know what you think about it!