HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE (Part 2 of 5)
5 Easy Ways to Beat the Blues and Feel Joyous this Holiday Season
by Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
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Today we continue our series of tips to help you beat the blues over the holidays:

• Holiday Blues Number 1:
  Seasonal Affective Disorder ("SAD") in last issue 6 December
• Holiday Blues Number 2:
  Seasonal Illnesses (in today's issue)
• Holiday Blues Number 3:
  Family "Dramas" (coming Wed 16 December)
• Holiday Blues Number 4:
  Stress over Money (coming Sun 27 December)
• Holiday Blues Number 5:
  Feelings of Isolation (coming Thurs 31 December)
  

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Beating Holiday Blues Number 2: Seasonal illnesses
In Part 1, we looked at SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). In today's instalment of my "Holiday Survival Guide", we'll look at beating the holiday blues of seasonal illnesses like colds and flu.

Ok. I admit. There is nothing that makes us feel more "blue" than getting ill, especially during the holidays when we are supposed to be having fun (aren't' we?). There has indeed been an awful lot of flu going around this year (I had swine flu in September myself), over and above the usual seasonal flu. But what makes the flu season even worse is the fact that during the holiday season, we tend to compromise our body's immune system to an extreme by:

• Staying indoors most of the time. This not only cuts down on our supply of Vitamin D, which is already in short supply in the winter (as mentioned in previous article), but it also makes us more subject to respiratory illness due to stale air, indoor heating, etc.
• Eating a lot of processed, rich or sugary foods. 'Nuff said.
• Consuming more alcohol than usual. Admit it… perhaps more during the holidays than the rest of the year combined?
• Shopping in crowded and stressful conditions. I'm sorry, but I take issue with ANYONE who says he/she's "born" to shop! NOT!
• Going to more parties than usual. Yes, and staying up till stupid-o-clock many days in a row. Yup. Always good for the immune system.
• Getting stressed over money. For some reason we feel the need to spend gargantuan amounts of money at Christmas. When did that happen? So on the one hand we get all stressed out about our bills, but on the other hand if we DON'T spend the money because we actually are broke, we get all stressed out with guilt over not having enough money to spend. Does this make sense? It's a no-win situation.
• AND so many other things. You fill in the blanks.

Ho, ho, ho…

You know, looking at this, it sort of makes me think that the flu "bugs" are smart enough to know that if they wait to attack us around the holidays, they'll have a real easy time of it. So, given that these little guys are wise to our habits and know when it's the best time of year to zap us, I propose that we will at least have a fighting chance if we follow these 3 steps:

STEP 1: Eliminate the negative stimuli that might cause seasonal illness.
It makes sense, first and foremost, to try not to get sick in the first place by relearning your physical, mental and emotional limitations.

• Get outdoors every day, even if for a little while. When to do get outdoors, take time to BREATHE the air and look at the trees, sky, etc. Clear your lungs, your brain, the pores of your skin.
• Go very easy on the food and drinks that you KNOW make you feel tired, sick or lacking in energy the next day.
• Take shopping in small doses and try to go at "off" times. Better yet, buy online or buy less, full stop. OR how about MAKING gifts? I remember when I was a kid I always made gifts, and while they might have been a bit… well…not always the most "practical" (I remember a pencil holder I made for my sister that was in the shape of an alien… the pencils were his antennae), but the point is they were personal, and they showed I had taken the time to make them for the person.
• Say "no" to at least 2 activities this holiday season that simply feel like too much, no matter how much social pressure might be put upon you. The problem with the holidays is that we get caught up in the flurry of activity and we think we "must" participate in everything that pops up. It's simply not true.
• Regardless of anything else, remember to consume lots of water. The simple fact is, most of us tend to be dehydrated. General "word on the street" is that we need 2 litres a day, but actually if we are carrying a few extra pounds, we need more than that. If you smoke, even more. AND remember, caffeinated beverages (and alcohol) are actually dehydrating to the system, so don't think that 10 cups of coffee a day will give you your daily requirement of water. Water is necessary for keeping our cells healthy, and it also helps to flush out toxins in the body. Without enough water, we become a breeding ground for all kinds of lovelies to find a nice home in our bodies. It's one of the cheapest and easiest ways to ensure better health and energy levels, but so many people forget to drink water.

STEP 2: Increase your natural defences
Boost your natural immune system with products like Echinacea, Aloe Vera, bee pollen, elderberry syrup and Vitamin C. If you don't do this during other times of the year, at least do it during the winter months (Echinacea should only be taken for a few months at a time anyway). But do remember that these are only supplements, not cure-alls, and they will have a lessened effect if your diet is poor and you keep pushing yourself too hard. So it's absolutely pointless to think that these will "bail you out" if you are still driving yourself to your limits.

STEP 3: Learn how to surrender!
Ok, so here's where I take my "mommie" hat off and put my life coach hat back on.

No matter how diligently we look after ourselves, sometimes we fall ill. And if that's the case, don't fight it, SURRENDER to it! It does you absolutely no good at all to push yourself like a martyr, wallow in feelings of guilt or (worse) try to recover too quickly. When I had the swine flu back in September, it took me a whole month to regain my energy fully, and believe me, every time I tried to push it, my body told me to knock it off.

I can't tell you how many of my clients push themselves to the brink and then wonder why they are ill or unhappy. STOP it right now! The world NEEDS you, and it needs you in one, whole, healthy piece.

Remember:

• It doesn't matter if the people at work grumble and complain that you are off sick. They'll also get ill some day and take their turn off work soon enough.
• Your family will not abandon you if you don't make Christmas dinner this year. It will be a great opportunity for someone else to learn how to cook.
• The world will not end if you haven't finished your Christmas shopping. That's what store vouchers are for. ;-)
  
• Your business will not end if you miss a few days on Twitter (hmmm… look who's calling the kettle black, here?).

TODAY'S JOY FORMULA:
Turning Seasonal Illness into Joy

So here's my "Joy Formula" for dealing with seasonal illnesses this year, if you do happen to fall ill this holiday season:

• HOP INTO BED with a hot water bottle on your feet, a cuddly toy on your pillow, a smile on your face, and just sleep as much as you want.
• ASK OTHER PEOPLE to do favours for you. If you live alone, call friends up and ask them to shop for you. You will be amazed how many people will come out of the woodwork to help when you ask for it.
• THANK THE UNIVERSE for sending you the illness, and take it as your "permission slip" to take TIME OUT. See the sickness as a message that your body needs "down time" and just take it.
• UNPLUG YOUR PC and forget about emails. And when you get well, unsubscribe to 50% of your mailing lists (well... except "Creative Living, of course).
• REST AND READ all those books next to your nightstand you haven't had time to read because you've been too busy. Maybe my book The Garden of the Soul is one of them? If not, I recommend it highly. ;-)
  

In the next instalment of my "Holiday Survival Guide"
I'll be talking about how to beat the blues of
Family Dramas during the Holiday Season (yikes!).

That's coming on Saturday,
so if you are not a subscriber to "Creative Living",
just sign up on the box at the left to be sure you receive it.

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Vision Board on Blastation

PRODUCT REVIEW : Blastation Interactive Goal Setting and Life Coaching Software by Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
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About a year ago, I attended a course with Patrick Ryan called "Awakened Wisdom". On that course, I set many goals for myself to achieve over the next 2 years and beyond. Now, I know that I am absolutely USELESS when it comes to keeping paper documents, so I wanted to make some sort of computer-based tracking system for myself to create my 2-year targets and then break them down into smaller chunks (monthly, weekly, daily). I used an Excel spreadsheet and put all kinds of pretty colours on it. I used a different colour for each time frame: one for "Life Dream" and one for the year, month, week and day. I called it my "15-minute focus" because I didn't want to spend gobs of time on it every day, or I wouldn't get any work done. Instead, I wanted to use it as a way to focus my vision on the bigger picture every day, and keep my perspective on how my daily activities were working towards that goal. Here's a screen shot of what it looked like almost exactly 1 year ago (hahah... notice that my "Life Dream" last Christmas was that my book The Garden of the Soul sold 30 million copies... I'm still working on that one!):

Well, I have to say, it did work pretty well and kept me on target for a while. If I look back at it now, most of the things I had set out to do were all pretty much achieved, and most of those things that weren't achieved were replaced with stuff that was even better. I found this method so useful that I even shared it with several of my coaching clients, who liked it very much.

But after a couple of months, it started to get a bit of clumsy and I tended not to use it as much as I did when I first made it. There were too many words, too much scrolling up and down, no real way to "see" visually what I had achieved. I found it took me a lot longer than 15 minutes a day, because of the way it was laid out, and it didn't really replace my need to use a daily diary quite separately from this (which I developed on yet another spreadsheet). Sometimes I found myself forgetting where I had written things down because I needed so many different places to write them!

But lo' and behold, only a few months ago, a woman named Allison Maslan came into my life, asking me to coach her around creating a marketing campaign for her upcoming book Blast Off! (I wrote about her book in my previous issue). Well, of course I was really pleased to meet such a wonderful new client, and get to work on such a fun book campaign, but the bonus surprise for me was when she showed me Blastation - an online software programme she had designed for exactly the same purpose as my 15-Minute Focus spreadsheet…

But seeing them side-by-side was like comparing an old 78 rpm gramophone to a digital surround-sound system. Blastation was everything I had wanted my spreadsheet to be, but it did it all faster, prettier and more visually. It overcame every single one of the drawbacks of my home-made goals-setting spreadsheet had. Heck, it even used a similar colour scheme as I had chosen for my 15-Minute Focus, only a lot bolder and more eye-catching. I had to laugh when I saw that. It was just too perfect.

Blastation gives you 6 major areas of life in which to set goals: career, relationships, wealth, spiritual life, health and personal fulfilment (which includes FUN!).

For each of these areas, you set your "Big Picture Vision", your "mile steps" and then your "mini-feats." That's very similar to the way I had my system laid out, only more streamlined. Then, it also gives you a "sunup script" which sort of reminds me of the "morning pages" Julia Cameron uses in The Artist's Way (which I use with a lot of my clients). It also has "rocket words" which are basically your self-pep talk (or affirmations) for the day. It allows you to upload pictures, so it's not all words, words, words.

AND do you know what? It even has a calendar that you can integrate with Outlook. I couldn't believe it when I saw this.

But the thing I really, really liked was the "Life-o-Meter". It's like a petrol gauge that shows you how much you are living up to your goals. Every time you achieve a goal on time it sends you up the gauge towards 100%. Pretty cool, yes?

It also comes with excellent tutorials and guidance on how to use it effectively. Frankly, I'm going to recommend Blastation to my clients because it really is a great way to set goals, and stay motivated as you move towards them. And for coaches, it's a great way for you to monitor your clients' progress.

I rarely (if ever) talk about online coaching products, but this particular one just felt so fun and so USEFUL, I really wanted to review it and let people take it for a spin. Allison offers a 30-day free trial of the software, so you can see for yourself if you think it could help you move closer to your life dreams.

And I do think a few months' subscription would also make a really unique Christmas gift. Check out Blastation HERE.

Warm wishes,

Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
'Turning up the volume of the music in your heart!'
Transformation Coaching from Create-a-Life
lynn@create-a-life.co.uk

© 2009 Lynn Serafinn at Create-a-Life. All rights reserved.

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Gift idea #1

This Holiday, GIVE
The Garden of the Soul
to someone your love...

...and RECEIVE over
1 hour in never before released audio book excerpts for yourself!

Click HERE for full details

What readers are saying:

"Ms. Serafinn has a way with words that transfers the magic of Spirit from the pages, past the mind, and to the heart. I saw myself in the pages of this book. I saw abusive people in a new light. I saw Spirit in each of us. I recognized where and what I have given. I appreciate what I have received. I am becoming more of my true self, and I am in touch with my inner being."

--Yvonne Perry, Writers in the Sky
Nashville, TN

Many of you are smack in the middle of your holiday gift buying for this year. Well wouldn't it be nice if someone gave a gift to you just for buying a gift for someone else?

That's why I've prepared a very special collection of audios JUST for book fans who purchase The Garden of the Soul from Amazon during the month of December 2009.

What are the audios?

They are the "Lessons from the Rose, Iris, Daffodil and Lily" that start each section of the book. When you hear these particular audios, you'll understand why so many readers have called the book "magical":

"...lyrical style and brilliant imagination... a magical adventure toward deeper understanding of the relationship between Self and the world."

--Alan Seale,
Author of Soul Mission, Life Vision and The Manifestation Wheel

To find out how to receive your fresh new audios (and here a sample clip) just click HERE

Remember, this offer for readers who purchase the book from Amazon on or before 31 December 2009.

And, of course, if you want to buy a copy of the book for YOURSELF, that's great too!

Claim your gifts and hear an audio sample at:

http://tinyurl.com/gots-holiday

Gift idea #3

Blastation™, Interactive Goal Setting and Life Coaching Software

This is a VERY unique gift, and something your might never have thought about buying for someone else.

Blastation is a one-of- kind motivational/ life planning/ success software that not only helps you to get total clarity on your dreams and goals, it also help you break them down into workable steps. It allows you to set goals, create vision boards, create a personal calendar and so many other things.

I had a walk through it the other day and have just started using it myself and it is WONDERFUL! It's really fun to use and and really helpful. The way it's laid out keeps you inspired to progress down your path. I love the colourful layout and the way you can upload images. The "Life-o-Meter" feature is a great motivator. It's a really clever and useful programme.

While Blastation is a monthly subscription, it does give you your first month fr*ee. I think it would be a great gift to give someone a few months' worth of membership and let them "play" with it to see how great it is.

We think nothing about buying all sorts of video and computer games as gifts that don't really give us anything back of permanent value. Blastation has all the colour, fun and interactivity that makes computer games satisfying, but it's like having a virtual coach.. To me, the FUN factor is what makes it stand out amongst other online self-help tools on the market.

And, of course, if you want to try out Blastation for YOURSELF, that's great too!
Click here and start your free trial today!

Broadcast Schedule for Rest of December

Talk Radio:
Lynn Serafinn's
Garden of the Soul

Airs Wednesdays
6 PM UK time, 1 PM Eastern, 10 AM Pacific, 7 PM CET

Wednesday 9 December
Ep45- Creating from Spirit
Special Guest: Daya Devi Doolin
Author and Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts spiritual counsellor, body worker and author of the books "The Only Way out is In" and "Super Vita-Minds", Daya Devi Doolin. Daya will be talking to us about TRUE creative process, including the process of learning how to open up to what spirit is telling you at any given moment, as well as practical ways to dive more deeply into the process of Divine Creation to find greater connection, healing and understanding. As a special bonus, Daya will be guiding you through a live meditation online, to help you unlock your untapped channels to Creating through Spirit.

Wednesday 16 December
Ep46- Blast Off to the Life of Your Dreams in 2010
Special Guest: Allison Maslan
Author and Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts author, coach and registered homeopath Allison Maslan. Allison will be sharing her story of how she manifested her own "dream life", including creating several highly successful businesses, filling her life with fun and magical adventure, and finding her soul mate when she was in her 40s. As a coach, Allison was so inspired with her own success that she started sharing her formula for happiness with her clients, and found that the system could easily be learned by anyone. On tonight's show, Allison will share that formula with us, so you can start knocking down the barriers between you and all the good stuff in life, and let 2010 be the year when you make the changes in your life that you have been dreaming about for a lifetime.

THROUGHOUT DECEMBER:
Lynn will also be playing a series of live readings from her book
"The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self". Don't miss these never before aired excerpts.

Catch the show live
or on demand at
www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn

Live CHAT available during the show
Listeners can CALL IN with questions
at 646-727-3449 (US number)

December Radio Appearances by Lynn

Thursday 10 December
TIME: 12noon Eastern, 5pm UK
SHOW: A Fresh Start with Sallie Felton
Catch Lynn talking about personal transformation, and how the four principles of Give-Receive-Become-Be from The Garden of the Soul can be used in our daily lives to find greater happiness.
Listen live or on demand at http://www.contacttalkradio.com/

Sunday 13 December
Time: 8.30pm Eastern, 1.30am UK (Monday morning)
SHOW: The Psychic Connection with Heather Woodward
Catch Lynn talking about the creative process of channelling from authentic Self, and how to find our own spirituality, as well as how the four spiritual principles from The Garden of the Soul can be used in our daily lives to find greater happiness.
Listen live or on demand at:
http://tinyurl.com/ylesy2v

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