Skip to content
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Center Staff
  • Board of Trustees
  • Services
    • Sunday Services & Meditation
    • Wednesday’s Wisdom
    • Congregational Songs
    • Archived videos on our Youtube Channel
  • Gallery
  • Media
  • Contact Us
Top Menu

Center for Spiritual Living
Center for Spiritual Living
No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, know that you are welcome here.
  • Programs
    • Animal Kinship Ministry
    • Circle of Love
    • Coming Home – Awakening To Spirit
    • Community Outreach Programs
    • New Thought Bookstore
    • Shifting Sands
    • Youth and Family
  • Science of Mind Classes
    • Course Descriptions
    • Current & Upcoming Classes
  • Events & Calendar
  • Prayer Ministry
    • Affirmative Prayer: Career and Creativity
    • Affirmative Prayer: Health
    • Affirmative Prayer: Love and Relationships
    • Affirmative Prayer: Spirituality and Consciousness
    • Affirmative Prayer: Wealth
  • Ministers
  • Give
  • Volunteer
  • Blog
  • Programs
    • Animal Kinship Ministry
    • Circle of Love
    • Coming Home – Awakening To Spirit
    • Community Outreach Programs
    • New Thought Bookstore
    • Shifting Sands
    • Youth and Family
  • Science of Mind Classes
    • Course Descriptions
    • Current & Upcoming Classes
  • Events & Calendar
  • Prayer Ministry
    • Affirmative Prayer: Career and Creativity
    • Affirmative Prayer: Health
    • Affirmative Prayer: Love and Relationships
    • Affirmative Prayer: Spirituality and Consciousness
    • Affirmative Prayer: Wealth
  • Ministers
  • Give
  • Volunteer
  • Blog

How to Avoid Holiday Overload

It’s the first week of December and my calendar is full. We
have school functions, water polo tournaments, church functions, family visits
and myriad other holiday-related activities that seem to punctuate most people’s
calendars this time of year. Adding anything else at this point will require some
serious juggling, and possibly forms – filled out in triplicate, I suspect…

 There is always a lot
going on at our house – and I like it that way. I do not, however, like the
stress that comes with being over-scheduled. As we entered this month, I was already
feeling a little over-committed. I knew that I needed to do something.
Fortunately, last month Dr. Heather’s focus was meditation,
and I was inspired to develop the habit of starting my day with a morning
meditation. What a difference a few
minutes of daily meditation makes!
(I’d like to tell you that I have
consistently meditated every morning, but I have missed a few… which is how I
can tell you that I notice the difference when I don’t do it.)
If you haven’t started meditating, I encourage you to start
with Deepak Chopra’s guided meditations. You can find more information here.
The holiday season is considered by most people to be a time
of joyous celebration. It’s a time for gathering together with those you love.
So what is it about the
Holiday Season that causes some people to stress-out and go overboard?





National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is probably one of my
favorite holiday movies. Who cannot relate, at least a little, to Clark
Griswald’s desire to create the perfect Christmas for his family? We all
sympathize as he carries on despite Fate throwing curve after curve at him. He
finally snaps, but only when it appears that he has let his family down. He can
shrug off disaster after disaster, but the thought of personally disappointing
his family is more than he can bear, and he loses it. How many of us live under
that type of self-imposed pressure during the holidays?
I could feel myself nearing the edge, and I did not want to
go there. So, I set my attention on the intention of keeping this holiday
season as stress-free as possible, despite the many activities my children,
husband and I are involved in.
During my meditation, I posited the question: what needs to
happen to keep this holiday season as happy, bright, joyful and connected as
possible for me and my family?  
The answer that I received was to schedule “downtime” into
my calendar each week. It’s not an answer I would naturally gravitate to, but I am going
to trust the wisdom of my inner guidance. I know that the idea of scheduling downtime probably
sounds obvious to some of you, but I am one of those can’t-just-sit-and-watch-TV
types. I don’t do downtime well, but I am really good at multi-tasking! I have blocked the Friday evenings as family/downtime (not all of my Fridays were open, so I used Sunday evening as an alternate). We have more Fridays open than Sundays this month, so it worked better, but I suspect Sunday will be the regular day if I
decide to continue this beyond the holidays.
What will I do with my downtime? I hope to spend it with my
family (or those family members who are available – I’m not going to increase
my stress level by turning this into an attendance required activity). Maybe we
will drive around to look at Christmas lights, or watch a holiday movie, or
just take a walk. Maybe I’ll convince my children to put away their electronics
and play Scrabble or Monopoly. Maybe we will bake some cookies… as long as it
is fun! I do not intend to use the time to start a project – no cleaning out
closets or reorganizing the garage.

There is no doubt that the holiday season brings its own
special stress. Whether it’s the cantankerous, eccentric relatives, or the
turkey that wouldn’t cooperate, there will likely be moments that threaten to
push you to the limit. When that happens, actually, preferably before that
happens, take some time to ask yourself what you need from this holiday season.
The answer might be far simpler than you think. 
Share this post

Author: Melissa Echelberger

Recent Blog Posts
  • Annual Holiday Brunch, Sunday December 3rd

    Sunday, December 3rd at 11:30 a.m., after the service Celebrate the holidays with your spiritual family Sunday, December 3rd at our Annual Holiday Brunch. Bring friends and bring your wallet, shop our Annual Holiday Boutique! No need to bring a potluck dish, all of the delicious food and drink will be provided!

    November 29, 2023
  • Annual Holiday Boutique December 3rd

    Our Annual Holiday Boutique unfolds Sunday, December 3rd, at 11:30 (after the service). This year the boutique is open to artists and artisans from Centers throughout Orange County. You will find art, fine art photography, crafts, fiber arts, trinkets, and gifts you won’t see elsewhere! Whether you are looking for creative hand-made gifts to give…

    November 28, 2023
  • Hans Smith Made His Transition

    Hans (Hanyo) Smith October 27, 1947 – November 11, 2023 It is with great sadness we announce that our beloved Hans Smith has made his transition. Hans made his transition at his home in Cleveland, Ohio, where he relocated several years ago to be near his son and grandchildren. Hans was a long-time member of…

    November 12, 2023
  • Dena Van Slyke Celebration of Life January 7th, 2024

    Sunday, January 7th, 2024 ~ 2 p.m. Please join Dena Van Slyke’s beloved life partner Lee in celebrating her remarkable life Sunday, January 7th, 2024 at the Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley, 1201 Puerta del Sol, San Clemente, CA. Dena had been a member of the Center for more than 20 years and served…

    November 9, 2023
  • Town Hall Meeting, October 8, 2023

    Values/Challenges/Strategies Summary We asked you what you valued and what you saw as challenges or obstacles to our values. Many of you also offered up some strategies for meeting concerns you had. Below is a summary of your feedback. Values Challenges/Obstacles Suggested Strategies Ministerial Staff (3) Financial Stability (3) Increase no. seats filled Programs Music…

    October 15, 2023
  • The Visioning Process – Sunday October 15, 2023

    Vision statements and visualization do involve creativity but taps into our left brain, which is analytical and logical. It’s the part of the brain that helps us write our to-do list or plan our budget. Visioning flows is an exercise in tapping into the subconscious brain. It is a spiritual practice that allows us to…

    October 9, 2023
Categories
  • Blog
  • Classes
  • Events
Tags
Affirmation Affirmative Prayer Audio blog center for spiritual living capistrano valley creativity Darin McClure Darin McClure Dr. Heather Clark Dr. Heather Clark Ernest Holmes Forgiveness gratitude gratitude Jason Silva Joyous Living Journal Joyous Living Journal Juli Isola Juli Isola Lisa McClure Lisa McClure Love Love Meditation meditation Music Oneness Parenting Quotes Rev. Dr. Heather Clark Rev. Dr. Heather Clark Rev. Karyn Allen Rev. Pattie Mercado Rev. Pattie Mercado Science of Mind September Warren September Warren spiritual growth Sunday Service Sunday Service Vidette Vanderweide Vidette Vanderweide Wednesday Wisdom Wednesday Wisdom Youtube
Contact Us
Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley
1201 Puerta Del Sol
Suite 100 San Clemente, California 92673

Phone: 949-240-6463

Other contact options

Volunteers: Please check your assignment schedules here.

Latest Tweets
Could not authenticate you.
Latest Facebook Update
This message is only visible to admins.
Problem displaying Facebook posts. Backup cache in use.
Click to show error
Error: Error validating access token: The session has been invalidated because the user changed their password or Facebook has changed the session for security reasons. Type: OAuthException

Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley

Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley

Percolating Your Passion with Purpose, with Dave Friedman, RScP. Sunday August 13, 2023.

... See MoreSee Less


Video

View on Facebook

·
Share



Share on Facebook



Share on Twitter



Share on Linked In



Share by Email

Center for Spiritual Living
© Copyright Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley