Best Christmas Gift Ideas

As the dream of the upcoming holidays, do you envision universal goals such as maintaining the resources of our planet, leaving a smaller footprint carbon, developing greater energy independence? Are you busy trying to figure out how to reduce the level of stress in your life? For many Sandwiched Boomers, at this time of year is much more exhausting than inspiring.

The most common symptoms of stress can occur at any time, any way:

• Physiological – headaches, upset stomach,
• Emotional – feeling irritable, overwhelmed
• Cognitive – difficulty concentrating, memory loss
• behavior – overeating, physical removal

Stress is the body's response to any stimulus, either external or internal, is perceived as draining the resources of staff. Perhaps the gifts is your source of anxiety, worry that a better BlackBerry hit the market next week. Or the food becomes a convenience, and challenge, as you are eating the cookie dough instead of baking it. In the annual festival of the office, notice when it is focused on the buffet table instead of chatting with colleagues. You may be creating more stress for yourself by joining the old and familiar routine operating on autopilot.

Of course not want to be busy during the holidays. We know your goal is to maintain your life in balance and still honor the complexity of Christmas / Chanukah / Kwanzaa. Try to understand what it is the holiday that is most important to you. And then decide to focus on what you do, not what to do.

Begin to lay the groundwork for the gradual change in your donation rituals. Use the following eight practices tips to help keep your stress under control as you focus on things more joy and less material:

1. Achieve and enjoy reconnect with people from his past. Sending a holiday card and catch up with an old friend or relative with whom you have lost contact.

2. Investing time instead of money when deciding on gift giving. Drive your elderly neighbor to your doctor appointment or take your widowed aunt grocery shopping.

3. Enjoy your friends during this season, inviting them to dinner and further reduce the expenses by sharing recipes instead of gifts.

4. Give the gift of himself where it really is appreciated. A museum or a regular date night at the movies with their parents.

5. Add a personal touch and express themselves creatively, doing some of their own gifts for family and friends.

6. Be grateful for what you have and put the focus on others in need – volunteer at a soup kitchen, bring gifts to a homeless shelter or donate to a battered women's center.

7. Give a gift to himself. Enjoy a weekend with your spouse or spend a day at the zoo with her grandchildren.

8. Enjoy the peace by paying their debts instead of taking the family on an outing expensive. Look through eyes of their children and decide together how to spend the day. His family understand and learn from the experience.

Let go of the idea of a perfect vacation – do not have to appear as a Norman Rockwell painting. You'll discover that small changes can mean the beginning of a new chapter in her busy life. Cheer to accept and celebrate simplicity of the moment. Can be used as a model for the future. And joy to you and yours as a path to greater connection.

© Her Mentor Center, 2007

About the Author:

Phyllis Goldberg, Ph.D. & Rosemary Lichtman, Ph.D. are founders of

http://www.HerMentorCenter.com
, a website for midlife women and

http://www.NourishingRelationships.Blogspot.com
, a blog for the Sandwich Generation. They are authors of a forthcoming book about Baby Boomers and family relationships. They offer free newsletter
Stepping Stones
.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – How The Gift Of Connection Can Help Boomers Reduce Holiday Stress