Dr. Lucia Matthews

When people wish us "Happy Holidays", we often respond with a reflexive "And to you." But have you ever thought about what it really means to have a Happy Holiday? For some, sharing the holiday with family and friends elicits feelings of contentment and joy; while a merchant's definition of "happy" likely includes robust sales. From my perspective, feelings of happiness are inversely proportional to feelings of stress –

the lower my stress, the higher my happiness

Yet, for many, the holiday season is the perfect stress storm in that those visions of sugar plums are often dashed by the realities of life. Whether those realities are in the form of conflict, worry or grief; most of us have had our "Happy Holiday" stolen by the Grinch known as stress.

And so, my Christmas gift to you is contained in the most recent edition of Vero's Voice. I wrote an article on how to manage stress and hope it helps to make your holiday season more joyful, more peaceful and...happy! 

http://www.verosvoice.com/images/vv_issue_35_web.pdf       (See page 6)