For some more drastically than others, the holiday season can seem to lose a bit of its luster as we get older. Decorating, baking cookies, and exchanging presents are still fun, but not as fun or fulfilling as they used to be back when we weren’t ruminating on our financial woes and checking email every five seconds while passive-aggressively being pissed off at several people in our families. 🙂

For those who generally like the holidays, but just wish they could feel a bit more of the magic they did as kids, it’s surprisingly pretty easy to get that old-fashioned joy back without much more than an open mind.

I don’t need to tell you how great traditions are—you likely already know this and have activities you enjoy participating in this time of year. Furthermore, I don’t believe we get the full experience of doing those festive things anyway without giving some thought to the following:

In my opinion, there are three main components that affect how we experience this time of year.

1) Mindset and Use of Time
2) Relationships
3) Belief in the Inexplicable

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Mindset and Use of Time:

• Give yourself a break from some responsibilities for a few weeks and spend more time enjoying holiday-specific activities or volunteering for those less fortunate.
• Surround yourself with more positivity than usual, possibly in part by switching up your media intake until after the new year.
• Commit to a playful, lighthearted attitude and let loose!

Relationships:

• Accept family and friends for who they are and who they are not.
• Forgive those who have hurt you for your own peace of mind.
• Remain unaffected by negative or jaded people.
• Check in with yourself here and there through journaling or meditation, for example.

Belief in the Inexplicable

• Feel grateful for who you are and what you have.
• Try to remember some of the times you felt the universe/God/whatever saved your butt or brought you some kind of miracle.
• Rule out anything as being impossible.
• Acknowledge love itself.

Do you have any more categories or tips you’d add to this list? How do you feel about this time of year overall?