One thing you won’t regret adding to your list this season …

You probably have a long to-do list this season, but adding this small task might actually make the busy-ness of preparing for the holidays feel more festive, and less frustrating: 

“Set an intention.”

After all, the meaning of the holiday is the one you bring to it. And when you connect with why you are cracking eggs after your bedtime to make baskets of cookies for neighbors and friends, or buying boxes of cards to send to your ever-growing list, you can do it with joy instead of that little edge of shimmering resentment.

Also, when you connect with your intention (to re-connect with your childhood awe of the holidays, for example) it may inspire you to take steps to make these days more magical, by making them more manageable:

🍪 Could you purchase cookies from your favorite bakery instead of making them yourself, leaving you more time decorating the baskets with your loved ones instead?)

🙊 Listen to yourself talk as the holiday approaches. You might hear yourself complaining about your to-do list, the length of your gift list, or how the holidays have become overly commercial and have lost their meaning. Start by noticing what your thoughts and words reveal about your state of mind. Is this how you want to be feeling? What would you like to be thinking, saying, and feeling instead?

🎁 When giving gifts, reconnect with why you are doing it. Has gift-giving become a competitive sport among you and your siblings or friends? Has it turned from a generous act to a begrudging obligation? Consider giving fewer gifts so you can enjoy the process of choosing and wrapping each one more.

💝 Try making gift wrapping a meditation: as you choose the paper, size it, and fold it around the gift, think about all the things you love about the recipient, and meditate on the joy of showering your love and attention on that person.

Most of all, remember that the gift is in the present moment!

Books and more on sleep, dreams, and joy

This post is adapted from ideas shared in my books Mindful Moments for Stressful Days, and Joy in Every Moment, copyright Tzivia Gover, Third House Moon, LLC, all rights reserved. Some of these tips first appeared in an interview with me in Good Housekeeping UK.