Holiday Stress

This soothing meditation will bring immediate relief to holiday stress using the 3 steps of Move Toward (TM)(notice, know, need). Move Toward(TM) is a shorthand of the cutting edge Internal Family Systems (IFS) model.

Transcript

Hello my friends,

Welcome to Move Toward with Jenna and this is a move toward meditation for holiday stress.

So let me invite you to call to mind a situation that is creating some stress for you during this holiday season.

It may be preparing to be with extended family.

It might be grieving the loss of family or relationships.

It might be gatherings,

Preparing for parties or gift giving or additional work that's on your plate preparing for the holidays.

Whatever it might be,

Let me invite you to take just a moment to invite that situation to come into the forefront of your mind.

And if it feels okay for you,

Just gently draw your awareness to the parts of you that are getting activated around this triggering situation.

So you might notice a part of you that is feeling stressed or a part of you that is feeling grief and loss.

You might notice a part of you that's feeling resentment or overwhelm or anger or helplessness.

Whatever you become aware of in regards to this triggering situation,

See if you can gently allow your awareness to be with it.

Noticing where it's showing up in or around your body.

You might notice the grief welling up behind your eyes,

For example,

Or the anger coming up in your jaw or your fists or the stress and the anxiety coming up in a racing heart or a throat that's closing up and shutting down.

Wherever you notice this part of you,

Feel free to even gently place your hand on that area of your body in a gentle gesture of welcome if that feels right for you.

Just letting this part of you that's carrying the sadness,

The stress,

The grief,

The overwhelm,

The anxiety,

Letting it know that it's welcome here and you're here to be with it.

Just breathing some loving kindness into this part of you without any effort to shift it,

Change it,

Make it go away,

Figure it out.

Just being with it with loving kindness for a moment.

And as you are bringing loving kindness and compassion to this part of you,

You may notice one of probably two things,

It may get stronger for a moment.

And that's usually because these parts of us are not used to being welcomed.

And when we welcome them,

They move forward to get more of that.

Letting this part of you know that it doesn't have to take you over to get your attention,

That you can just be here with it.

Or you may notice that it calms way down and subsides because it's feeling very grateful and relieved just to have your kindness directed towards it.

Whatever you notice is exactly right for you.

Now that you've had a chance to notice this part of you,

You might want to take step two and move toward,

Which is no.

Ask this part of you what it wants you to know about itself.

It may want to give you an image of itself in your mind's eye.

You may notice an image of a person or an object or a cartoon maybe coming up.

And if that's the case,

Any image is exactly right.

Don't worry about understanding it or shifting it in any way,

Just receive it.

And ask this part of you why it's feeling activated in this moment.

What does it want you to know about why it's taking over right now?

And don't try to figure it out.

Just see if something comes to mind.

You may want to ask this part of you where in your life at first learn to feel this way or to do this thing that it's doing.

And again,

Just see if a memory comes up.

And if a memory came to mind from an earlier time in your life,

That's how long this part of you has been carrying the burden of this painful emotion or this difficult behavior that it's engaged in.

If it feels congruent for you,

You may want to extend just some compassion to this part for carrying this feeling or this behavior for such a long time.

When you feel like you've learned what you need to know from this part of you,

Then you may be ready to move on to step three of move toward,

Which is need.

Ask this part of you what it needs from you right now to feel just a little bit more comforted,

A little less triggered.

And again,

Without trying to figure it out,

Just see what pops into your mind.

And something may come to mind that this part of you needs in your internal experience.

It might really appreciate a metaphoric hug from you or just being welcomed and not pushed away or locked in the basement.

It might need a comfortable chair to sit down in or a cup of tea.

And just notice in your mind's eye as you provide those things,

How much relief begins to flood over you.

Or you may notice that something comes to mind that this part of you needs from you in your external world.

It might need you to ask for help or to set a boundary and tell someone you just can't do it all.

Or it may need you to make time for self-care or reach out to a safe friend.

So just noticing if anything came up in your external world,

Asking for help,

Expressing your grief,

Setting boundaries,

Using your voice,

And that thing feels like something you can and would like to follow through on,

Go ahead and set an intention with this part of you,

Letting it know that you will take that action on its behalf so that it doesn't have to feel so triggered and take you over like this in the future quite as much.

Just notice how this part appreciates that from you.

Notice what its response feels like.

If it feels right for you,

You can let this part of you know that you in your core self,

Your core essence,

Who you truly are,

You are here to take care of it.

And it doesn't have to feel so alone with this painful feeling or this difficult behavior anymore.

And so when this feels complete for now,

Sending love and appreciation to this part of you for showing up and maybe showing you some of itself today.

And then when you're ready,

Perhaps taking a deep cleansing breath and beginning to shift your awareness from your internal experience back into the room around you.

When you feel ready,

Reopening your eyes.

So thank you for joining me for this move toward meditation with a part of you that may be feeling some holiday stress.

Please feel free to take a moment to journal or sketch on a piece of paper right now what came up for you during that meditation.

It's not uncommon for that to get a little bit fuzzy about 30 minutes after we finish spending time internally.

So it's very helpful to make a record of whatever you noticed,

Whatever came up for you on a piece of paper for just a few minutes after you finish.

Thank you,

My friend.

I hope that this meditation has been helpful to you in navigating holiday stress.

Feel free to come back and listen to it as many times as you'd like.

Or join me at movetoward.

Com for many more meditations like this one.

Reviews

Boy did I need to stumble upon this meditation today. Thank you, Jenna!

This was a great meditation for the holidays :)