Let’s Talk About Ending the Year with JOY
Ending the year and finishing out a busy holiday season can be exhausting. The second that last family member leaves or the moment you finally receive a little alone time, you audibly exhale.
What brings you joy?
Ending the year and finishing out a busy holiday season can be exhausting. The second that last family member leaves or the moment you finally receive a little alone time, you audibly exhale. Your heart rate slows. You crash on the couch for a bit. Good, do that if you need to.
Here’s a tip that can help get you through to the finish line of that chaotic family season. Every day take note of at least one thing that brought you joy that day. Even in the hard, even in the frustrating. What brought you joy? Take out a journal and write it all down for 1-2 minutes (no biggie). And I bet one thing will turn into a few things you can identify.
Examples:
Waking up and having coffee with milk each morning.
My first 30 minutes of the day, just me and God.
The way my son’s neck smells when I’m putting him to bed each night.
The way my made-bed looks as I pull back the covers to climb in, as if it’s politely beckoning me.
You get the picture, right?
Even when things are really tough, you can find a few things that brought you joy, gratitude even. And research shows that real gratitude can have the same effects on the brain as an SSRI (depression medication). The kicker is it has to be genuine gratitude (the smell of a baby’s neck) not trite gratitude (I’m thankful for food and shelter, I’m thankful for my family). Unless of course those things perhaps were once in question and now you are really, truly, eyes-wide, thankful for them. Get it?
It’s amazing to us that God created the brain as intricately as He did. It’s amazing that we can see in God’s design that when we intentionally look for gratitude, our brain responds as if we had a human-made medication.
And absolutely do not hear this incorrectly - sometimes the best thing we need for a season or even for a lifetime (depending on the situation) is a medication. The same way you might need medication for diabetes or a heart condition.
Dear friend, God loves you so much.
He wants you to remember. Remember what True North is. Remember who you are IN Him. Remember you are not your brokenness, your trauma, your family’s past. You are His. And what He created is deeply, powerfully intricate - yet simple.
What brings joy and gratitude is usually incredibly powerful and important, yet simple.
Made in God’s image. True North.
Keep your eyes on True North. And reach out if therapy services could be the next step in supporting you to do so.
Happy New Year, friend!
May 2022 be powerful, joy-filled and simple. May it be filled with Jesus and healing.
Reach out any time by calling 678-653-2859 or visiting our counseling website and tapping "Make An Appointment." We are ready for you.
Joy to the World! The Weary World Rejoices…
As Christmas and the holidays draw near, a couple phrases come to mind: "Joy to the World!" and "The Weary World Rejoices." It's interesting how these two lines in our traditional Christmas songs can be so true and yet so conflicting. "Joy to the World" invites feelings of celebration, togetherness and warmth. Decorating Christmas trees, eating cookies and listening to Charlie Brown Christmas album on repeat (it is the best Christmas music after all). While "The Weary World Rejoices" sounds a lot like how many of us actually experience Christmas time. Painful. Exhausting. Chaotic.
As Christmas and the holidays draw near, a couple phrases come to mind: "Joy to the World!" and "The Weary World Rejoices." It's interesting how these two lines in our traditional Christmas songs can be so true and yet so conflicting. "Joy to the World" invites feelings of celebration, togetherness and warmth. Decorating Christmas trees, eating cookies and listening to Charlie Brown Christmas album on repeat (it is the best Christmas music after all). While "The Weary World Rejoices" sounds a lot like how many of us actually experience Christmas time. Painful. Exhausting. Chaotic.
We rejoice knowing that Jesus came to us as the least of these - a baby born in slop - that He was killed to be our sacrifice, and rose from death, solidifying that he is in fact God, the maker of all things and that not even death can contain him.
Jesus came to us as the least of these - a baby born in slop.
We rejoice because we know why we celebrate Christmas, yet many of us rejoice out of a place of being weary. For many of us, our holiday family-time isn't a Joy to the World experience because it hurts to be together. Maybe this is because family relationships are broken, or have been wounded, or because some type of rupture has occurred and the repair has not yet been made.
For some of us the holidays are reminders that our special loved one is no longer with us and their gift will no longer be under that tree. Maybe the holidays are difficult because we can no longer be in relationship with our family for one reason or another, or because we never knew our biological family as a result of adoption or separation.
It's not lost on us that the holidays can be equal parts “Joy to the World” and “The Weary World Rejoices.” If you find yourself having a difficult time this holiday season for any reason, please know that you are not alone. You never were. You have a God-Father who loves you so much, knows you more intimately than you realize, and is in the holy business of restoration of hearts and families.
But you also have us - group of therapists who know the Lord and know how to care for broken hearts in a therapeutic capacity. If you'd like to get started now or any time in the future with one of our therapists, reach out on our website and click Make An Appointment. We'll tenderly hold your pain and walk you through the therapeutic, healing process.
Happy Holidays,
Alex Thompson and the Cumberland Counseling Team
