Our top 4 heartfulness tips for enhancing your Christmas!

We all know this season can be hectic, busy and overwhelming but Christmas time is also full of joy, love and happiness. To make sure you are experiencing more of the positives instead of the negatives, we are providing you with our top 4 heartfulness tips that you can use to stay merry and bright! #punintended

Heartfulness is derived from the term whole-heartedness and links with the practice of mindfulness. The elements of heartfulness include kindness, gratitude, generosity and compassion - all of which are proven by multitudes of research to increase our happiness. Practicing heartfulness not only makes us happy, it creates a sense of empathy and understanding to what may be happening in the present moment. This is completely vital for enduring the chaotic Christmas rush.

Here are our top 4 tips to help you not only survive, but thrive this Christmas:

Kindness – Kindness is what Christmas is all about. The giving and receiving of gifts, the preparation of meals, the writing of Christmas cards and spending quality time with loved ones is all part of the kindness of Christmas. Instead of stressing over these tasks, view them as opportunities to spread your kindness to others to make them happy and in turn you will experience happiness also.

Being kind to yourself is also important and shouldn’t be sidelined just because it’s the festive season. Make sure to take some time out for yourself! It could be ten minutes a day or listening to your favourite Christmas carols, or other music if your aren’t a carols fan, to boost your mood. You could take an hour out of your week to go for a mindful walk in a beautiful setting or get a massage and pampered in some way. Alternatively, if you like baking you could take 30 minutes out of your day to create scrumptious Christmas cookies and then enjoy eating them. Whatever activity you like to do that is kind to yourself, make it a priority!

Gratitude – Gratitude is being thankful and appreciative for the good in your life. It can be practiced on your own or with the entire family. Discussing what you are grateful for is a perfect activity for during a drive in the car, whilst sitting down to a family dinner or at the end of the day before going to bed. This Christmas, make time to take it in turns to share three things the you are grateful for about Christmas – it could be a person, an object and a place. This will enhance your positive attitude towards Christmas and all that is has to offer. You could be surprised at what your loved one are really grateful for during the silly season.

Generosity – Generosity involves being giving of things, your words or your time and efforts. A lot of focus at Christmas time is on receiving presents - especially for children. This Christmas teach your children to be generous by donating something to those in need. There are a lot of people who find Christmas extremely hard due to financial reasons. Some people don’t have a roof over their head or enough money to buy their children presents, let alone food for a Christmas feast. Giving money, time and donations of toys, clothes and food to charities is a great way to be generous. It doesn’t have to be a big donation, just something that can help another human in need. You will feel great knowing that you have brightened someone’s Christmas. Make this a family event by including your children in the process so that they learn to think of others and become generous themselves.

Compassion – Compassion is the process of connecting with another person by identifying with them and their situation. Whilst Christmas time brings joy to some families, it can also highlight the difficulties in family relationships. This Christmas, show compassion towards members of your family by being patient, caring, understanding and placing yourself in their shoes. Putting differences aside and being polite for a day or two to make an elder family member happy is one of the most compassionate things that you can do. Be sure to be mindful and pay attention to situations and emotions so that whenever you feel overwhelmed with others, take a step back, pause, breathe and try to look at the bigger picture. It could just save you from flipping out. ;)

Cultivating heartfulness by being kind, grateful, generous and compassionate is a wonderful way to enhance your sense of enjoyment and fulfillment this festive season! Be sure to remember these heartfulness tips in those time of chaos and drama to help you be happy, calm and relaxed in a heartbeat! #anotherpunintended

From all of us here at Head and Heart Mindfulness, have a very Merry Christmas and an exciting New Year!