For nearly a decade I have been picking a word as a theme to light up my new year, straying away from goals and resolutions. My guiding intention for 2021 was creativity. While I pick a word as a theme specifically to liberate myself from the binding rigidity of goals, I fell into my own folly this year. I had visions of my word inspiring another children’s book, more blog posts, more videos, more content, more drawing and doodling, and general creativity…all more in the field of goal versus intention. Oh, how the universe has a sense of humor. As the year wound down, I found myself posting less, grinding to a near halt on my social media presence. I have been making less videos, less content, less generating all together. As the winter season nestled in, I reflected on what I had to show for an entire year of “creativity.”

If you are feeling overwhelmed this holiday season, or are around other family members or friends who are dysregulated, the greatest gift you can offer yourself and others is to work on regulating. Having a calm, regulated nervous system is an asset that can carry you through a stressful season. Here are some tools for how to do that.

One of my favorite moments of this wedding was the hand binding ceremony, a ritual our minister shared with us in Scotland at our own wedding. The couple bring their hands together and a cord is wrapped around the wrists, with an intention spoken over each looping. The cord, woven with fibers of warm wishes, prayer, and intention, symbolically seals the couple together as one. The binding acknowledges the ways our individual hands change over time with age, work, and love, yet the partnership remains as one.

I have been around horses for about a decade, but the connection has deepened for me over the past five years and for the first time this year I am getting to call a herd of horses my colleagues. Find out how horses can help us build healthy connected relationships with ourselves and others.

The beauty of a sunrise and a sunset is they punctuate our experience of life. No matter what has happened throughout the course of the day, we can expect a sunset to draw the day to a close. And tomorrow gifts us with a sunrise, offering a new day. The rhythm of nature is patterned and repetitive, soothing in its tempo. Allowing ourselves the space to witness the sunrise and the sunset, or to create ritual to start and close the day can be soothing on the nervous system.

One of the best ways to quiet the mind is to let go of the intention to have a quiet mind. Focusing on giving permission for the thoughts to emerge can be helpful in quelling the chaos in our head. If we don’t allow space for our thoughts to exist, they can become louder, creating a challenge. After all, what we resist persists. Many hold the expectation that meditation has to be a totally quiet mind, which is often unachievable for even the most advanced practitioners. Focusing on meeting the thoughts with ahimsa, nonjudgmental awareness, can be a helpful starting point.