This holiday season is truly my favorite. Like it or not a lot of things around us slow down, and it gives you the perfect excuse to JUST STOP, even if for a few days. This is a time, when you can turn on the out of the office alert almost guilt-free, as most of us, luckily do take some time off. Unfortunately, we do still live in a time where one's busyness is carried as a badge of honor and as a way of showing our importance, value, or self-worth and while I am convinced that the vast majority has it in its power to stop even ONE DAY, but some people struggle with it. Not for nothing the US is the country where the most people leave paid vacation on the table every year.
I think this is a perfect time to re-imagine our own busyness by experiencing the power of the pause and using that pause to question how we have tackled the past year and taking time to reflect upon what is serving us and what is not. Stopping to Live Life is the real badge of honor.
Using Dr. Deepak Chopra’s STOP method can really help us create those pockets of peace during our days, cultivating the ability to recognize when we just need to STOP:
Stop what we’re doing.
Take some deep breaths.
Observe how the body feels and where we feel those feelings.
Proceed with kindness and compassion.