This year, we've decided to take a break from the Christmas rush by treating ourselves to a moment of tranquility. We'll put aside the mental burden of the Christmas Eve menu and buy those last few gifts.
The goal: to create an atmosphere of calm and well-being at home to recharge your batteries before the final sprint of the holidays.
Letting go with a good book
In La maison de Bretagne, Marie Sizun addresses the very idea of feeling at home, in every sense of the word. Determined to sell the family home in Finistère where she spent all her summer vacations as a child, Parisian Claire takes a week off to sort things out. Upon her arrival in Brittany, her plans are disrupted by a dramatic event, and what could be the beginning of a detective novel is in fact just a pretext to bring back buried memories for the main character. In this house bearing traces of the past, family stories resurface: a mysterious mother, an absent father, complicated relationships with a misunderstood sister. At 50, the time for introspection has come for Claire, and her feelings toward her Breton home will be profoundly transformed. A delicately written and very accurate story.
Approach the end-of-year celebrations with peace of mind
In her excellent podcast, Change Ma Vie, Clothilde Dussoulier offers us tips for approaching the holidays with lightness and fluidity. According to her, the holiday season is inherently neutral. If we consider it "happy," "sad," or even "stressful," it's because our thoughts, and by extension our emotions, attribute these descriptions to them. Since our brain is governed by a very powerful mechanism of confirmation bias, it tends to view all situations based on what it establishes as true. Thus, if you approach Christmas with negative preconceptions, your brain will tend to only notice what confirms this idea.
One solution to break this pattern? The thought flow technique. Write down on a piece of paper all the thoughts you associate with the holiday season. Take the time to observe what seems purely factual and prejudiced. The thought flow technique allows you to get to the heart of what's bothering you. You'll realize that you always have the choice to change your point of view!
Create an atmosphere of well-being at home
A Zen and relaxing atmosphere promotes a sense of calm. One of our favorites, the Harmonizing Candle, immerses you in a serene and gentle atmosphere that invites you to cocoon. The scent of this candle helps relieve stress and tension to reharmonize body and mind. Its divine notes of jasmine and musk delicately perfume your home.
Lavender essential oil, harvested in the Vaucluse region, is known for its calming and purifying properties. It regulates the nervous system for physical and mental relaxation. Maritime pine essential oil, meanwhile, promotes respiratory comfort. Spraying this mist in your favorite room helps you feel more peaceful every day.
Promote a sense of inner calm
We all know the effects of stress: heart and respiratory activity accelerate, sweat secretion increases, and digestion becomes more difficult. This is a sign that the sympathetic nervous system—which isn't exactly aptly named!—is active. To regain a sense of inner calm, it's necessary to activate its partner: the parasympathetic nervous system.
To do this, conscious breathing exercises are a particularly effective gateway. Indeed, breathing is one of the only mechanisms in the body that can be both autonomous (we don't need to think about breathing to actually do it) and voluntary (we can decide to breathe faster, slower, or not at all). By focusing on our breathing, through cardiac coherence or meditation for example, the heart rate regulates, the body's functions calm down, and energy is conserved, as if by magic! This technique also works very well at the moment to promote good sleep.
Clear your mind to lighten your mind
"Getting things in order," "seeing more clearly," "clearing out" are all expressions that address both our interior and our mind. It's no surprise then that it has been proven that tidying up has a significant impact on our serenity. By decluttering our home, we also reduce the clutter in our minds. Not having objects in front of us every day that we don't like or that we never use leaves mental space for other things that are more important to us. A clean and tidy home creates a feeling of confidence and calm. You can dedicate a day to sorting and completely tidying your home. The bonus? Identifying what you're really missing before the holidays gives you useful gift ideas!