Gem #1: In your daily routine, make a habit of returning your awareness to your body and how it is feeling. As you read this, take a moment and drop your awareness to your breath. Is it full and easy - rejuvenating you? Or do you need to do something to help it deepen? Perhaps stretch your spine or arms out? Perhaps simply bringing your awareness to the breath helps you remember to inhale more deeply. Sometimes when I check in with my breath I realize I want to move my whole body - take a walk, put on some music and dance, do a yoga pose or two. So I stop and do it or commit to doing it as soon as I can.

Gem #2: If you are being bombarded by other people's needs or a schedule that is out of control, take a moment and set aside time to slow down in a healthy way. Drinking yourself silly doesn't count here. Having a good massage does. Shopping until you drop doesn't count either. Having a warm cup of tea or coffee with a good friend counts double. You get the idea.

I just finished a week that was almost non-stop. It was over the top on the stressor scale. I completed it by receiving a nice long bodywork session, allowing me to rest more deeply last night. What could you do for yourself in this moment to reconnect and rejuvenate? Commit to something that is renewing for you. Then follow through and do it.

Gem #3: When in doubt, feel your feet under you, connecting to the planet. We are all connected here on planet earth, via the gravitational field (among other things.) Feel the richness of life around you. If I take my awareness to my feet and their connection to the earth, something inside of me begins to feel steadier. My racing thoughts slow down. My racing heart does too. Whatever was troubling me moments before recedes in importance. Whatever is truly most important comes into clearer focus.

Test this out for yourself. Take an inner temperature reading. How present do you feel in your body right now? Is your holiday "to-do" list hammering you? Do you feel a knot of tension in your gut, as you worry about something outside of your control? How present do you feel? Can you allow yourself to take the time to slow down for a moment?  If so, start by simply feeling the sensation of your feet resting on the ground. I mean the actual felt sensation - warmth or coolness, heaviness or lightness, full or empty feeling, tingling or pulsing.

Allow yourself to feel it all. Then take your awareness on down into the earth beneath you, as though you are putting down roots of awareness, as deeply as you are comfortable doing. Allow your curiosity, your openness to discovery, to lead you. As you take your awareness to this safe, unconditional resource that is beneath us all the time, notice how it changes your thoughts. And how does it change your sense of your body? Take another inner temperature reading - they may be subtle or huge, but what changes do you notice?

By using this practical tool of grounding, I can turn an overwhelming moment or week into something much easier to deal with. My thoughts become clearer. My heart is more open. I have more energy to create productively. Even when life piles it on, I can find moments of joy and remember what is most important - to love and be loved. Isn't that what this season is all about?

Have a wonderful holiday season. To simplify your shopping this year, my publishers are giving a huge discount (30% off) to my readers. So make it easy on yourself and gift everyone with their very own copy of Full Body Presence: Learning to Listen to Your Body's Wisdom. Order directly from New World Library at this link. Enter SOFULL at checkout to receive 30% off and free shipping! Order today while copies last. And enjoy!