By Jennifer Drum, Resident in Counseling
This time of year is as emotionally colorful as the lights we see in store windows. Holidays, like other yearly marked events, offer us an opportunity to look inside our hearts to see where we have arrived as of now. We may find ourselves not just reflecting on ourselves but also on those we hold close.
Can we bring compassion to both?
When we accept the idea that we are all on a soul’s journey, it offers us freedom and some space for mistakes, forgiveness, and healing. In the season of gathering family and friends, it is important to take a breath and enter with intention.
This can feel or sound complicated, but I am asking you to make compassion, for both self and others, your main accessory for this season. An idea I propose for closing our 2021 year is to be present for all of it; the joy, the grief, the ambivalence, the love and whatever is showing up for you, because that is your truth.
Remember: Mental Health is a journey.
Mental health and wellbeing is a journey in which we can be moving through pain, finding our true selves, AND have moments of joy and love in our process. Stay open to awakenings and new insights during this time of year. I invite you to receive joy and love when it presents itself. Maybe, bring it in on purpose and with purpose as a gift to yourself and others. And please, as always, bring any burden you are challenged with to your personal work in therapy. That is why we are here. Peace and love.