Stop holiday stress from turning into holiday blues with these five tips — and get back to what the season can be all about.

Feeling that your freedom of choice has been taken away can be deeply frustrating, but even in very restrictive circumstances, we can still choose how to respond to what is going on in our lives — by recognising the limitations of our ability to exercise control and then making our choices within them.

Some of us need to feel the fear before doing anything at all. Maybe some peace can be gained by just accepting that we function this way…

Call it “voluntary simplicity”, call it “lifehacking”, call it “downshifting”, or call it what you will, bigger is no longer better. Now “less” is chic and trendy. If you can whittle the sum total of your possessions down to 100 or less, you could be the next Internet celebrity. But the simplicity movement, like most movements, has a shadow. Let’s take a look at what can go wrong when you hop on the simplicity bandwagon.

Taking the time to receive what our ‘felt sense’ brings is an important part of focusing. We are moving forwards, in the direction of fresh air, but it is worth pausing a moment, to receive what has come to us, in a friendly way.

The sea is like a non-living character in my life — a constant yet ever-changing presence, depending on the season. But it wasn’t until I returned to the seaside, having lived away for some years, that I truly appreciated how important it is to me.

Once we have a clear sense of a whole problem there inside our bodies, the time comes to ask it: alright, I hear you, now what is it that you really have to tell me? Where do we go from here?