St Holiday Rituals Can Boost Happiness


12/11/2019 11:28:16 AM

Keep Calm

The holidays often conjure up feelings of busyness and stress—there’s so much to do and so little time! Thankfully, these five holiday rituals can help you slow down and increase your level of happiness. People who are happier around the holidays often have traditions that strengthen social connections and help them to feel a sense of belonging.  The following rituals allow you to feel that you are part of something bigger:

1. Altruism
Studies have shown that giving time or money boosts your feelings of happiness and connection. If you have a holiday tradition—like volunteering at a soup kitchen, delivering meals, or filling stockings for children in need—the benefits multiply. Both the receiver and the giver have positive outcomes. If you don’t already have a tradition of altruism, you may want to start one this year.

2. Cooking
Cooking during the holidays is different than everyday cooking. It is an activity you often do in collaboration with friends and family. Meals become a labor of love. Deep conversations happen while peeling potatoes and decorating shortbread. The smells and tastes can bring a sense of “home” no matter where you are. Even the post-meal cleanup feels more fun when you do it in a group.

3. Singing
This festive time of year comes with seasonal songs. These range from timeless hymns, holiday hits, and those funny songs you sang in your grade school choir. The physiological benefits of singing include stress reduction, improved immunity, and reduced muscle tension. It’s also pretty powerful at combating depression. Singing or listening to seasonal music fosters connection to your past, to those with whom shared your past and with the others singing with you in the present moment.

4. Decorating
Wreaths on your door do more than increase your curb appeal. Seeing the decorations around your home change from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s is a happiness booster. These objects are tied to specific memories from your past. Reflecting fondly on the past activates the same area of your brain as the original joy—like an instant reply. If the memories are tense or less positive you have the opportunity to relegate them to your past and move forward using humor, forgiveness, and gratitude that you are no longer in this past.

5. Outdoor Activities
Humans can tend toward hibernation in the fall and winter seasons. Shortened days can lead to less time to engage in outdoor activities. Holiday traditions like ice skating, hiking, and even raking leaves get you back outside. The fresh air and sunlight are good for your body and the time with others is good for your soul. Even if “the weather outside is frightful,” the desire to continue a tradition is like positive peer pressure to get you outside and active.

If you don’t have strong traditions yet, here are a few recommendations to keep in mind:

  1. Less is more. Too many traditions lead to more busyness and less time to enjoy. Make sure there is balance.
  2. Prioritize connection. The sense that you are part of something larger is the single strongest predicator of happiness that you have.
  3. Schedule time for traditions. Forming a habit or tradition requires a strategy; the simplest one is to put it on your calendar. What gets scheduled gets done!
  4. Don’t forget down time. Holiday time can be hectic. To be at your best make sure you get enough rest. Having a day where the entire family stays in pajamas or a day where there is nothing at all scheduled will help you to feel better during this jam-packed time of year.
  5. Replace expectation with appreciation. Having preconceived ideas about how things will go is a recipe for disaster. Instead, practice being grateful. Gratitude helps you to remember all the truly good things in your life with a sense of reverence.

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