Awww... The holidays are the times when we come together as friends and family and do two things:

• Stuff ourselves sick with sugary, fatty and greasy food.
• Whine and get into fights because now's our chance!

Right? EW! I wish I could be warm and fuzzy, but for some of us the holidays and celebration gatherings of any kind are a hot mess.

Let's face the problem head on, rather than just dreading and building up our anxiety and blood pressure leading up to the event - or even using drinking more wine or stuffing with more food or watching a TV or whatever to distract us during the party.

Gatherings are powerful energywork, and when used correctly, you can exponentially increase your vibration and even increase your manifestation techniques. But that has to be on the agenda in order for that to happen!

In the previous post, I gave 7 Strategies for Not Getting Stuffed at Holiday Gatherings. This post will continue the healing process by showing you other awesome things you can do that do NOT involve stuffing yourself, but DO involve experiencing more love and more connection. Group hug!

And that's what we really want during the holidays, right?

So here goes:

1. Looking through photo albums and telling the stories of each picture. (Can also be showing cellphone pictures, but only if you know how to put the phone down and pay attention to people!)
2. Writing "Thank You" or "Happy Holidays" cards to your list of people that you are grateful for as a group and having a "card party."
3. Taking pictures as a family (professional ones are nice, but also doing disposable ones too are fun because it's a surprise! and the candids are much more emotionally satisfying to look at)
4. Writing "Happy Holidays" or  "Thank You" or "Wish You Well" notes to your neighbors AND walking them to their mailboxes to put in. BONUS: knocking on their door and saying to their face that you wish them and their family health and happiness in person
5. Starting your own dance party. BONUS: having a dance battle or Soul Train Line
6. Having a sing along or jam session
7. Playing silly old games like Telephone, Mad Libs, Charades, Taboo, Jenga, Simon Says, Red Light Green Light or Marry Kiss Kill
8. Calling people and telling them you love them or that you were just thinking of them and wish them well as a group
9. Planning your next vacation as a group
10. Watch an old home movie
11. Watch your favorite comedy movie (skip the food or alcohol or sugary drinks and have Tea instead. pretend you're british!)
12. Pick a charity to donate to like Heifer International or The Unstoppable Foundation
13. Rather than going around the table and saying what you are thankful for, go around the table and have Rampages of Appreciation for each other (and loved ones who are more than alive) where you say what you love about each person there
14. Have everyone tell stories about your ancestors' accomplishments and the stories of your family's heritage
15. Do a group verbal vision board and brainstorm, going around the room saying "wouldn't it be cool if we did..." and then the next person builds on that saying "yeah and wouldn't it be even better if we did..."
16. Go around the group and say what's your New Year's Resolution or a big goal you're working toward
17. Increase you Law of Attraction energy by everyone saying what they want more of (affection, appreciation, health, a new job, etc) Ask and ye shall receive!
18. Also go around the group and say what you may need help with or are working on to make it a group mastermind
19. Raise your vibration by going around the group and each person recounting all the accomplishments you've made in the last week, month, quarter and/or year, and then make sure everyone in the group claps loudly and celebrates. What you celebrate, you attract more of!
20. Have a car trunk treasure hunt where you have a list of items that everyone needs to find in their trunk, and whoever finds the most items on the list, wins
21. Have a clothing donation competition where you fill garbage bags of clothes you want to donate and whoever has the most clothes, wins
22. Go for a group walk around the block or in a local park to appreciate nature if the weather permits, or even plant a tree as a group to commemorate the day
23. Visit and clean a family gravesite as a group and remember the love that family member brought into your lives
24. Call or visit people who are in the hospital, in jail or are abroad and let them know you care and are thinking of them as a group
25. Do a group doodle mural where everyone draws and writes on a big piece of paper to commemorate the day
26. Go around the group and say where you want to be in 5 years and where you want to see the family / your friends / your company in 5 years
27. Go around the group and have everyone say their birthdate, astrological sign, favorite color, favorite food, and what was the most fun they ever had or the craziest/funniest thing they ever did/heard/saw

There you have it! 27 ways to celebrate and enjoy the love and communal energy of group gatherings.

Did you come up with more ways that aren't listed here? Leave a comment below and share the ideas so we can all learn to live more love-filled and quality lives with the people we care about!

SHARE THIS! You'd be surprised how many people you know right now are in desperate need of healing and could use this information to change their life. If you can read this, you know someone who needs this Love Letter!

The post 27 Non-Food Love and Bliss Raising Activities for Holiday Gatherings appeared first on Sensei Victoria Whitfield.

Whether it's a birthday, anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the 4th of July, an office party, or Mother's or Father's Day - most of our celebrations these days are food-focused.

In a previous article I explained how we associate food with love and that is why we tend to stuff ourselves, especially at Thanksgiving.

However Spirit spoke to me this morning and said that it's not just love, but we also associate food with appreciation and celebration. Any holiday or celebration therefore is a severe trigger for those of us who struggle with Emotional Eating and Emotional Stuffing Behaviors. So what on earth do we do about this?

I had a few downloads today about how to heal our relationship with food during Celebrations and Holiday Gatherings. Some of them may surprise you, others may seem pedestrian.

Either way, I encourage you to TRY THEM OUT (at least 3) this Thursday for Thanksgiving, and let me know how it goes for you.

It's all about making sure you're not the stuffed turkey at Thanksgiving this year!

I myself will be attempting to engage in all 7, and I'll let you know what happened for me. Usually I stuff myself sick during the holidays to show I am present and participating, but this time, I personally want to be present to myself and my health WHILE participating with experiencing Love with family and friends.

So here they are:

1. Reframe The Meaning of Cravings. We stuff ourselves during holidays and celebrations because we conflate eating food or drinking with Love. Guess what? There's more ways to give, receive and experience love than stuffing yourself. When you next feel the urge to eat more, reframe that urge as a need to experience more Love in that moment - which means, challenge yourself to hug someone, express appreciation, donate something, be affectionate, give a gift, do a random act of kindness or service, tell someone how much they mean to you, pat the cat or the dog, go outside and just appreciate nature for 10 minutes with someone or call someone up to say you were thinking of them.
2. Tupperware. We overeat during holiday celebrations because our eyes are bigger than our stomach, and portions go crazy. Bring a no more than 3 cup / 24 oz / 710 ml tupperware to the party and make it your goal to eat only what will fit in that tupperware and it can close. That way you know exactly how much will be going inside you.
3. Hijack Your Smell & Salivation Response. We often overeat during the holidays because things smell so good. Bring non-food and non-appetizing things to smell to combat cravings and overeating, such the following oil or candles to sniff: lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, roses, lilies, jasmine, gardenia, or even vick's vapor rub!
4. Managing Seconds, Thirds, and so on. We overeat because it's socially acceptable to keep going back for more food. So to make sure you can have more of something that tasted good but just at a later time, bring extra tupperware containers to put your seconds and thirds to take home later and put them in the FREEZER during your stay, AND into your own freezer when you get home.
5. Conscious Display. We overeat because we see the buffet open and easy to access. So, cover up foods with opaque (not see through) covers when not in use. Out of sight, out of mind!
6. Taste & Pleasure Binge. We overeat because everything just tasted so good and we just want to repeat the sensual pleasure of it. To counteract this, do an ACV Bomb! Drop a shot of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar into a tall glass of water and drink it down. It's great for digestion and can shut down cravings! Or, if it's really bad, just take an ACV shot straight. You may scream, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures! 🙂
7. Plan Out the Event Activities. We often overeat because the only thing to do is eat at a party. How BORING! So instead, have a set time where you and your family / guests move away from the dinner table to engage in non-food, non-drink, and non-eating activities that raise your love vibration higher and higher. And when you raise your vibration, you attract more positive things into your life!

Lacking ideas on what to do other than eat? The following post will be a list of over 27 Non-Food Love and Bliss Raising Activities for Holiday Gatherings. Click here to read it and plan your next holiday party consciously!

SHARE THIS! You'd be surprised how many people you know right now are in desperate need of healing and could use this information to change their life. If you can read this, you know someone who needs this Love Letter!

The post Love Letter: 7 Strategies to Not Get Stuffed at Holiday Gatherings appeared first on Sensei Victoria Whitfield.