Mommies Magazine

Five Ways To Create Joy During The Holidays

Posted on 17. Dec, 2008 by Mom Mag.

photo credit: laurenatclemson

The holidays are a special time to be together with our family and friends. They can also be a time of introspection….a time to reflect on what is most important to us in our life.

For some people, the holidays become rushed….filled with too many social events and not enough time to rest and rejuvenate. We feel out of balance. By taking a little time to ourselves, we can enjoy the holidays even more.

Here are five easy ways to help you have a memorable holiday season. They are:

1. Act on the Gentle Nudges Coming From Your Heart.
2. Ask Your Body What It Needs.
3. Slow Down.
4. Say “No” When Something Doesn’t Feel Right to You.
5. Celebrate Your Life.

This article shares how you can use these simple ideas to enrich your holiday season.

Act on the Gentle Nudges Coming From Your Heart

When you have a feeling that prompts you to do something in your life, it may be an idea that brings joy to you and to others. We often ignore our feelings to take action or try something new because we are too busy or we are afraid of what other people will think.

One way to act on these feelings is to write them down. By carrying a notepad or journal with you, you can write down the insights that come to you during the day.

Having a regular time set aside to work with them each week helps you take new actions that can bring many wonderful opportunities into your life.

The holidays are a perfect time to reflect on what is important to you and to receive insights which can change your life. It can also be a time to let go of what is no longer working so that you can make room for the new. These help to make the next year of your life a joyful one.

Ask Your Body What It Needs

Your body is constantly giving you messages about what it needs to be healthy and in balance. This is especially important during the holidays.

Let’s say that you are with your family at your brother’s house on Christmas day. Everyone is in the kitchen preparing dinner together. You have the desire to take
a walk outside.

The walk refreshes you and when you return, you have even more joy and feelings
of wellbeing to share with your family and loved ones.

Giving our body what it needs during the holidays can be as simple as taking a walk or a short rest. This helps us to stay in balance and enjoy our family and friends even more.

Slow Down

With many holiday events on your calendar, you may want to give yourself a day to rest and rejuvenate. What would you enjoy doing? Would you like to hike, read your favorite book or receive a massage?

Say “No” When Something Doesn’t Feel Right To You

When your calendar is filled with more social events than you want to attend, you may want to say ‘no’ to some of them.

If you are afraid that you will hurt someone’s feelings, you can let them know that you are taking some time for yourself during the holidays and will give them a call in the New Year.

Celebrate Your Life

Being grateful for what we have is one way to celebrate our life. It also helps us to receive more of the things which brings us joy.

Another way to celebrate is to keep a holiday journal and write down what we are grateful for and what we would like to create in the New Year.

Taking action on what we desire is an active way to be grateful. It helps us to accomplish our goals more easily and this brings joy to ourselves and to others.

Practicing these simple ideas helps you to have joy and balance during the holidays. You can also use them throughout the year to create continuing momentum for your activities and wellbeing in your life.

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I Get Flustered During Christmas Time

Posted on 01. Dec, 2008 by Mom Mag.

photo credit: sashafatcat

Christmas can bring happiness, joy and stress, that is, for sure. Yearly, I have to go through the stress of this festive season. Sometimes for me, I see Christmas just like the usual depressing and happiest holiday of the year. Why? Due to that I think about something that I haven’t done at all this year, and with another one approaching quickly I don’t know if I’ll be able to make my goal. It’s the fact of having a baby, is the thing that is so depressing for me. My man Labron, he just helps me relax and makes sure I don’t worry myself to death at this holiday that comes once a year and always ends up ok. Everything down to picking up my new upside down christmas tree stresses me out!

I always think that the reason could be that Christmas shows me the things I’m lacking and that leads to more Christmas stress, both because I shouldn’t be thinking such things and because it’s sad to think about. But things actually turn better when eve comes. There are people who I see that I rarely get to, my parents for one, since they live in Maine and we are all the way in Florida, also I like to see my 3 nieces. Although sometimes we don’t encourage them to visit us during Christmas because I know they have other plans on this occasion.

Due to everything, I try to do a few things I’ve learned over the years to distract myself. Often I try to look into the future and write down everything I need to get done for Christmas day. My hubby tries his hardest to help me by making suggestions on how we can stretch our dollars even further during the holiday seasons. And next year we are hoping to spend Christmas abroad, at least that could be a less stressful for us. I like to think of the things I’m looking forward to purely for my enjoyment like my chandelier christmas tree.

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Self Improvement For Financial Success

Posted on 14. Nov, 2008 by Mom Mag.

photo credit: quinn.anya

How can managing money be a ways to improve your self esteem? We don’t realize how we let our financial success or failure control our self improvement. Does it affect you?

When we were growing up, no one talked about money management. After we grew into young adults, most of us had to learn to manage our money the hard way, too much month at the end of the money. Most all of us have had money crisis in our lives but as we get older, we learn ways to manage our money more wisely.

Simple rules help to make spending our money more wisely and still get the things we really need. There is a big difference in buying what we want and buying what we need. Tithing, food, shelter and saving a tenth of our earnings should come first.

A Monthly Budget Will Save You
Make a monthly budget, never go to the store without a list of needed, not wanted, items and never go to the grocery store hungry. Explore new ways of entertainment, instead of going out to a movie, it’s less expensive to rent a movie and pop your own popcorn. Turn the television off and have the family sit at the table and play a game, complete a jigsaw puzzle. The conversation and closeness is well worth the effort.

Teach your children at a young age to earn money by doing chores around the house and how to save for that special thing they wanted instead of buying it for them just because they wanted it. Not only is this good money management but it is good for your child’s personal growth and development.

Attract Wealth With Your Attitude
There are ways to attract wealth and money, it starts with your attitude about money. Acting as though you have enough money to live comfortably can actually cause your mind to think positively about what you would do, how you would feel and act. Be grateful and thankful for the money you earn and receive. You will attract more money to you by being grateful. If you find a penny, nickel, dime, quarter or any size coin on the sidewalk, don’t ignore it, pick it up and think of it as rightfully yours. Your sub-conscious mind doesn’t know the value of the coin but will know the feeling you get from finding the coin as delightful.

Open your mind to money making opportunities and don’t be skeptical, doubtful or lazy. There are endless opportunities all around us. Be prepared and on the watch when these opportunities come. Always remember some of the greatest inventions started with one thought. Don’t accept less than the value of an item or product, and don’t accept less money for a hard earned days work this will invariably lead you to more success and an improving self esteem.

Tips For A Better Financial Life
We all have a skill or something we like to do and can do well for earning money. When your job requirements is something you love to do, you feel good about yourself, have a more positive attitude, more self esteem, more energy and a feeling of being more successful. Don’t accept less than the value of an item or product, and don’t accept less money for a hard earned days work.

Spending money wisely, waiting to buy when the item is on sale and thinking about large purchases before buying will give you the same feeling of delight. Always remember money is used in two ways, spending and saving and to increase your saving you must spend less.

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