With the holidays just around the corner, it is easy to get caught up in the overwhelm of it all. The parties, the cooking, the traveling, the presents. Everything. Throw running a business and keeping your family organized into the mix and there’s bound to be stress. Not to mention that you want to appreciate these moments with your family. Holidays with your littles are cherished and fleeting and you want to soak up every bit of it that you can. There is nothing worse than trying to enjoy yourself and running a mental checklist in your head at the same time.

When I feel scatterbrained like this, I take a deep breath and truly ground myself. And I know what you’re thinking, “Meghan, breathing techniques aren’t going to take care of my clients or wrap presents for me”. I know. But sometimes our to-do lists are so long and so extensive that worry of getting it all done prevents us from crossing just one thing off this list. This technique is going to give you the relief you need to get yourself organized. It’s the first step of many, but it’s going to make each step after easier and easier.

All you have to do is stop.

Stop where you are and close your eyes.

Inhale.

Visualize your breath going through your lungs, through your stomach, all the way down to your toes.

Exhale.

Repeat until you feel grounded back on earth and can focus on what’s happening in the moment. When we breathe slowly, we are triggering a relaxation response in the body. It is so simple, but we often get bogged down by work and life that we forget to take a moment for ourselves. Take it now. Your body will thank you.

It is simple techniques like this that can help us push past tension, so we can find our intuition and trust in ourselves.