in partnership with Etsy
Christmas E ve 2 016 and I’m running around serving a platter of homemade spicy fish tacos. ‘Why?’ you may ask. Well, firstly, Jamie Oliver says they’re a great unconventional festive party dish and, apparently, I didn’t have enough else to do. Except, on this particular Christmas Eve afternoon, I still had to pack my bags and the car, wrap the presents, and visit friends before driving to my parents where, at 11pm, I finally slumped onto the sofa and reluctantly began wrapping my mountain of gifts. The Christmas build-up had felt like a relentless, stressful, headless chicken-like rush to the finish line. Lists of presents to buy, cards to send, finances to fret about, gear to pack and parties to throw with fancy nibbles, of course. Surely this wasn’t what the festive season should be about? At least, it never used to be.
As Christmas 2017 begins to unfold before us, and the countdown starts, I despair at the thought of another hectic round of festivities. Something has to change, and it feels as if there must be more to it than simply starting the shopping earlier. I wonder, could my penchant for practising mindfulness be applied here, in the hope of achieving a happier, stress-free, more ‘significant’ Christmas? I ask Tamara Russell, author of #What Is Mindfulness (Watkins, £ 7.99) and director of the Mindfulness Centre of Excellence, if she agrees: ‘Many individuals find Christmas a di.cult time. How can we make sure that this year you are not left feeling tired, broke and bloated? Mindfulness helps us to see more deeply into the “space” of our minds and hearts’, she explains. ‘But we need to create the conditions for this to happen. This means sitting quietly and deliberately engaging with mind, body, emotions and heart. The answers are sometimes clear, and sometimes not, but this exercise is always worth doing. It is an essential tool.’