Happy almost-Thanksgiving! If you are like me, I'm sure that you cannot believe the holidays are already upon us. What happened to Fall? Although the song says "Oh, there's no place like home for the holidays," despite what we see in Hallmark Channel's Five Night Thanksgiving Movie Event, the fact is that most of us experience a sense of dread as we envision our upcoming holiday gatherings. Feelings of resistance, anxiety, and resignation start to bubble up as we anticipate the drama and dis-ease that will undoubtedly accompany the candied yams and pumpkin pie. As we contemplate the upcoming holiday, our minds naturally drift back to Thanksgivings past and we automatically become stressed out thinking about our family dynamic and the scenarios that consistently cause trauma and trepidation before we get to and/or around the Thanksgiving table. Any hope of warm and fuzzy feelings turn cold and cautious as we contemplate situations like:

• How do I once again try to explain to my family why I have to bring my own food since I eat vegan or gluten-free?
  
  

• What can I do to appease my parents and in-laws, who are all divorced but expect us to show up and make their Thanksgiving meal the most significant one?
  
  

• How should I handle it this year when, at the last minute, my sister-in-law once again decides to invite four more people to dinner?
  
  

• What do I do when Uncle Bob brings up politics and the holiday goes from being about pilgrims, Native Americans, and gratitude to Democrats vs. Republicans and hate and hurling insults?
  
  

• How do I not get pissed off at my family when they stay glued to the couch and watching TV as I do all of the work in the kitchen?

It seems in today’s busy lives we are overwhelmed with never ending responsibilities from work and family. It’s rare that we prioritize time for ourselves to decompress and find an outlet doing something that we enjoy. Setting aside time for fulfilling activities seems more important than ever. In this busy world we live in, we need to take care of ourselves, otherwise, eventually, we won’t be able to manage our other obligations. This is where hobbies come in. Hobbies are a great outlet for improving mental health and decompressing from the day’s chaos. Dedicating time to a hobby can also help you add efficiency to your schedule and structure to your leisure time.

I don’t know about you, but lately, it seems that everyone I know is totally stressed out, not just from their own lives, but from the “frequency in the field” – hurricane disasters, political nightmares, money worries, illness, etc.

Even if you are safe, dry, and your life is peachy right now, chances are you are picking up on the energies of those around you.

It’s almost unavoidable.

This is why I’m such a big advocate for all of us to become daily “pleasure puppies” and find ways each day to consciously choose to reduce our stress levels and add more pleasure.

Suffering is caused by the story you make up about your reality.

What stories are you making up about yourself, your life and those around you?

What impact are they having?

It’s not what happens to you but how you interpret and what you make things mean that causes you suffering.

Suffering is not a requirement.

Pain is inevitable and suffering is optional.

You choose.

We sometimes become addicted to suffering as a false way to feel alive, and struggle becomes the drug of choice that we use for a cheap high.

Stress happens when a system is out of balance. When something is too loose or too tight, when there is too much rest or too much activity or when there is too much attachment and resistance and not enough flow and allowing, stress is created. Stress can be physical, mental or emotional and is also part of what is called density; unresolved emotional content, experiences and conditioning. It is vibrational, dense and energetic at its core.

Stress causes you to experience overwhelm, anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, inability to cope with crises, relationship issues, medical problems, and job-related issues. When you look into the deepest level of why you accumulate stress you generally find that you are in resistance to life and you are in opposition to feeling certain emotions. Another main cause of stress is your conditioning that causes you to live in an inauthentic, created self, causing dis-connection from your true, authentic Self and dis-connection to people around you.

In life there will be rough days. Days that are stressful and discouraging externally and internally.  Days when you’re feeling apprehension, worry, doubt and fear. There will be days when external circumstances cause your mind to wreck internal havoc. There will be times you feel overwhelmed and unsure of what decisions to make; and times when you have no idea how things are going to work out. At times you’ll find yourself questioning the choices you’ve made, and wondering if you’ve made the ‘right’ decisions for your life.

When these days come; breathe. Remember you’re not alone. During this journey of life everyone has moments or days when life is challenging.

If you’ve embarked on a path towards increased internal awareness and spiritual enlightenment it can be easy to think something is wrong when you feel this way. Nothing is wrong; it’s normal. You’re alive and challenging times are a component of being human. Feeling is an occupational hazard of life that no one escapes.