For the last several weeks I’ve been thinking lots about holidays, and particularly the challenges most of us face as we gather with and relate with extended family. As with the challenges of parenting, I feel a collective hush when it comes to admitting openly that a) we love our families and b) it’s often hard to be with them. That the two aren’t mutually exclusive is a sign I’d like to wear around my neck. An idea that has the same effect on me as a wonderfully deep exhale.

One of the lessons I’ve learned the hard way is that challenging family time is made far worse when we don’t or can’t treat our own selves kindly. When, because of our own self-critical thoughts, shame, or impatience, we aren’t safe for us to be around, it’s difficult to nurture safe relationships with others. Fear and insecurity get bounced back and forth between everyone until no one knows where they started or how they can hope to end.

I’m delighted to offer you my heart-felt effort to help both things calm down. It’s an ebook for purchase called Unspiking the Holiday Punch: A Trust Tending guide to self-kindness before, during, and after extended family time.

I wrote it with the hope of sharing some of the tools I’ve collected over the last many years for loving myself and my family with more courage, more strength, and more ease than I naturally knew.

I hope you’ll come see! :)

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