Holidays for healers and the feeling habits that can move you into a creative and intuitive space

The holidays may have a different rhythm for therapists/healers, we hold a lot during these closing months. If there is an energy to keep during this time, it may be fear about our finances due to clients canceling and fewer inquiries for therapy. I can see it in my list serves and Facebook groups, as therapists write about their dwindling case loads and then stories detailing the ingredients for a worst case scenario for their practice.

This vision of worst case scenario messes with our personal vibration and makes it difficult to tap into a more peaceful home base. As a therapist, we hear stories of trauma, and the anxiety and depression and deep sadness in our clients, that we may feel more deeply during the holidays. I like using expressive arts to create a new way of relating to my feelings during this time of the year.

But first, here are a few of the unhealthy feeling habits that are housed in our fight and flight and perhaps fawn trauma response to the slower cadence of the holidays. We may blame or cast anger toward someone or something, as a way to to not feel something. We may move into a rigid way of seeing the problem. Perfectionism, people pleaser, overly accommodating and shame may become a lens for viewing our work and as a explanation for the ebb in our caseload. We may move into rescuer, savior or healer in all parts of our world to avoid our own feelings. Self-sacrificial realities that you feel necessary to cope with uncertainty may present themselves. These may be familiar habits that the egos defense uses to isolate ourselves and avoid our more vulnerable parts. These extreme feelings lack clarity and keep us in a hopeless loop.

Here are some healthy feeling habits to foster a safer home base within yourself which can deepen your intuition and sixth sense. I like art journaling during the holiday season to keep me grounded in the present moment. The sixth sense is a powerful tool of being in the present moment with your senses. The unhealthy feeling habits separate us from our sixth sense and have us rooted in past hurt where we feel alone.

In the morning, I draw a picture for how I want to feel and connect to others and myself. I draw a picture of what I want to do to bring in peace when a trigger wants to place me into a familiar pattern of unhealthy feeling habits.

Every hour, breathe into yourself and see where your thoughts are. It’s this place of observation you can interrupt old habits by slowing your breath, smelling a nice scent and drawing the color of how you want to feel. I use colors to identify different feeling patterns. For example, I use purple to represent my more mindful self and red to represent a difficult feeling loop.

The last healthy habit that I use is writing out and drawing the worst case scenario and what it looks like in detail with pictures I draw and words that I write. I then wait, breath and then draw and write out everything that makes up my best case scenario. I notice how my breath changes and feelings and thoughts move. I will look at the worst case scenario and breathe and then look at the more hopeful version. It’s also helpful to draw a picture of how you would like to see your business in six months and then put this picture away and let it go. I don’t look at until the six months have past.

Bringing your mind/body to peace during the holidays is a creative and spiritual process that takes us to a new place that we may have not thought of. I hope these activities and awareness techniques help bring in new insight and deepens your intuition leading to your own emotional and creative expansion.