Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Dec/Jan 2018 Aspire Mag Full Issue: Taking Time fo | Page 25

- MARIANNE MACKENZIE-SCOTT I remember when I seriously dove into my spiritual journey and committed to “do my work”. Meaning that I realized the way I looked at and interacted with the world was something that I could change by just becoming conscious of it and then choosing something different. I call this experience “waking up!”. Well, I felt very liberated from my old imprisoning beliefs and felt I had done so much “work” on myself. AND THEN the Holidays arrived. Somehow the Holidays have a way of bringing up things that we have not had to deal with, possibly all year. During a radio show I heard Dr. Wayne Dyer say, “You think you are conscious . . . that you are evolved . . . that you are spiritual -- just go visit your family”. I laughed out loud because that is exactly what I found. The old, limited thinking, wounded soul would show up to the family holiday party instead of the new me! It took me years to realize that the Holidays require special awareness and extra Radical Self-Care™. It is a real testing ground to see just how well we actually do practice self-care. Just how committed we really are to making ourselves a priority. During the Holiday Season we need extra awareness and care to be at our best. So, this Holiday Season I share with you THREE Secrets to finding JOY this Season. In my work I have discovered that my female clients have a much harder time cultivating self-care. It makes them feel “selfish” and selfish in our culture is a dirty word. We have been taught that giving is right and good, that wanting or desiring is selfish. Desire is the way we create. You, the beautiful creator that you are must create from desire or you will have a life filled with people, things and experiences that do not light you up. And without being lit up from the inside out, you will not bring your beautiful gifts to this world. We have got to get your light burning bright! TOP 6 INDICATORS YOU NEED RADICAL SELF-CARE™ THIS HOLIDAY. 1 Just the mention of the Holidays makes you cringe (when did you become scrooge!) 2 You would really like to just “light a match” to all the Holiday boxes in storage . . . that way you would have an excuse to end all the years and years of tradition that have gotten too heavy to manage. 3 You don’t know HOW you will muster the energy required to even put the tree up . . . little own everything else it takes to make this Season Bright (eye roll). 25 “THE Holiday Season ISN’T JUST A SEASON. IT’S A FEELING.”