Find Joy, Be Present, and Savor a Delicious Cookie

Happy Holidays! In today's video I'm chatting about making an effort to find joy, enjoy the present moment, and how cookies can be a nourishing part of your diet.

Being Present and Finding Joy In The Moment

As we head into 2021, I want you to take a moment to think about how much time you spend either thinking about the past or the future. It's pretty rare that we focus on the present moment. Instead we'e often looking ahead at what we need to get done or caught up in something that already happened. I encourage you to make a point of slowing down and being present.

This holiday season, I challenge you to think about how you can make the present moment more enjoyable. The more you can train your mind to see the positive in a situation instead of the negative, the greater happiness you're going to feel day to day.

For example, if you're late for an important meeting or a party and you get stuck in traffic our automatic response is to feel frustrated. Right? We stress about how late we're going to be and get angry at the other drivers. But take a moment and accept that being stuck in traffic is a fact that you don't have control over. Instead, focus on what you do have control over: making that extra time in the car more enjoyable. Put on a great podcast, play your favorite playlist, call someone you've been missing, or have a great conversation with your passenger.

Working on this mindset shift is like a muscle. The more you flex it the more automatic and easier it becomes.

This effort towards a more positive mindset is something I have worked on a lot this year. That doesn't mean I'm Little Miss Zen and Bliss 24/7. I definitely still have an automatic negative reaction if someone, for example, cuts me off in traffic. But I have that reaction for a second, notice what I'm doing, and then let it go. Instead of spiraling into a negative state fuming about how inconsiderate the behavior was and taking the action personally, I dismiss it. That helps to bring me back down to baseline. That way, the next time I receive a micro-dose of stress or negativity, I can let it go again instead of it creating a snowball effect. That single shift has helped me to feel so much more calm and happy even on stressful days when nothing seems to be going right.

How Cookies Can Be A Nourishing Part of Your Diet

As a health coach, I want to be clear that I do not think you should only be eating real whole foods that are the perfect picture of health 100% of the time. Enjoying the holiday season and all of the traditions and amazing food involved is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. These things can bring so much joy. If you're caught up in trying to eat perfectly and missing out on special moments or feeling deprived that's stressful and miserable. But if you nourish your body the majority of the time with healthy options and then savor the indulgences you do have - that will make your body AND heart happy.

Let's talk about cookies as an example! Here are two scenarios for how you can eat cookies over the holidays:

• One would be that you quickly inhale more Christmas cookies than you intend to. Maybe you mindlessly started eating them and suddenly half of the tin was gone. Or you had been telling yourself you "shouldn't" have any cookies and during a moment of weakness you caved. These are not healthy ways of eating a cookie.
• The second scenario is that you have a tradition of baking cookies with your family. You all spend time together, listen to some holiday music as you bake, and when those warm, gooey, delicious cookies come out of the oven you all savor one together. THAT is totally nourishing and so much more satisfying. That cookie is also not going to derail all of your health goals.

Food is more than just calories. It can bring joy and connection with loved ones. It once again boils down to enjoying and savoring the moment. I hope this encourages you to head into the new year in a positive frame of mind with more joy and happiness...and maybe a delicious cookie or two.