For my friend Mary (not her real name) every holiday season is predictable. She has her shopping list of gifts, grocery shopping list, a long list of errands to run, old friends to catch up with, parties to organize and attend, even a family to take care of. Inevitably, Mary gets burnt out, exhausted, and feels unappreciated. Ultimately, what was to be a wonderful happy holiday season ends up being a period of stress and anxiety that very nearly pushes Mary to the edge. Last year, after volunteering at her child's school Mary rushed to get to a store before it closed. She was in such a hurry, she did not notice the car in front of her stopping short. It was a small fender bender, but the added stress  of the crash sent Mary to hospital for an anxiety attack that she thought to be a heart attack. This was a wakeup call for Mary that she needed to do something to save herself during the holiday rush.  

Every year, we all may face similar circumstances as Mary. We volunteer for things we do not have time for; we end up shopping at the last minute for that perfect gift; we even fight our way through the crowds at the stores only to end up burnt-out and exhausted, just like Mary. The holiday season is considered a time for joy and merriment but tends to slips past us as a storm of frustrations. At the end of December we end up bearing a load of resentment, high credit card bills and wishing for the "good old days" he had a long time ago.

There may not be a way to stop the flurry of activity, but there are some steps you can do to make today the "good old days" once again. All it takes is a small amount of planning and self care. Here are some tips to help protect you from the "holiday kryptonite".

Plan rewards for yourself. These rewards can be goal oriented (e.g. If I get all of my posters hung today, I get the little lighted holiday necklace I wanted). Rewards can also be  non-goal oriented. They are "stress reliever" rewards - little bits of goodness you know and love. The best person that understands what you want and need is you. If you plan for your happiness, then you will more than likely get it. This is your opportunity to recognize that there will be stress, chaos, frustration, and even anger in the coming weeks. If you strategize now and plan your little escapes and releases, you will be able to survive the holiday season much easier.

Spend 15 minutes a day, just for yourself. Turn off the phones, maybe the TV, lock the door to your room or quiet place, even take a drive. Just do a little something for yourself each day that you enjoy doing. Do it every day! This gives you the attention you rightly deserve; a free moment to recoup your thoughts and room to breathe again. With all the wonderful things the holidays have to offer, the sights, sounds, and merriment, this is your chance to take a moment to just enjoy them.

Set aside a small amount of money as "fun money" that is only used for you. Make sure is not enough to cause any stress about loss of money (bills, grocery, etc.). This money can be used to buy yourself that little reward that you have planned for yourself. Make it fun, it can even be silly and nonsensical. All that matters is that it is just for you and that it is something that you enjoy.

Recognize if you are feeling needy. Sometimes a stressful moment, paired with a needy feeling can be cause for a reward; this would be your non-goal oriented reward. Recognize that your needs are important. Needs are the way our mind, body, emotions, and even spirit remind us of what is important to us. You already watch out for the needs of your family and friends, now is the time to turn that watchful eye inward to see what you need. Remember, if you are coming from a place of fulfillment and strength, then you are in a place where you can give more to loved ones. Recognizing and resolving your personal needs is one way of refueling and revitalizing yourself.

Remember that you are important. Everyone in your life is happy to have you for all the things you do, and for who you are. Take a moment to recognize that you really are a wonderful person. In the crazy holiday season we get caught up in the chaos of giving. Taking a moment to accept the fact that you are giving, that you are doing "all this" for others means you are a wonderful person. Wonderful people deserve to be recognized. This another cause to use your special non-goal oriented reward. Recognize you are wonderful because of all the things you are doing for others.

Get plenty of Sleep. With all the hustle and bustle going on, it may be hard to sleep. But sleep is when the body, heart and mind reset themselves, stress is reduced, and most of the body's healing takes place. You may have thoughts and worries that pop into your mind as you are about to sleep. Do not ignore them or just push them away! If you try to ignore them they will come back in fury. Instead, take a moment to recognize and acknowledge the importance of the concerns coming to mind. Then talk to those concerns - yes, talk to them. Tell them that there is plenty of time, tomorrow, to work on resolving them. Right now, you need your sleep so you can be well rested and able to give them the proper attention they deserve - tomorrow. Anytime a new concern pops up, treat it just the same way. With a small amount of due diligence you should find yourself sleeping soundly; waking, in the morning, well rested and ready to tackle a new day.

Ask for help. Don't be afraid to recognize when you need assistance. You are doing so much for other people, even taking time to recognize what you can do to help yourself and all of that can get overwhelming. This is when you need to check in with your needs and see if you need help. If you do, asking for help is the best way others can learn that you need something. Feel free to ask for help on shopping, running errands, setting something up, or anything else on your turbulent To-Do list. Most importantly, communicate that you are taking your rewards and that  your reward time is yours.

Mary is using many of these techniques, this year, and is finding that she is having a much better time than last year. She actually reported being able to smile after facing the crowds on the dreaded Black Friday. She simply gave herself the reward of a relaxing cup of hot coco and soft music because she made it through the day without a yelling at a fellow shopper. The thought of the relaxing moment was enough motivator to keep her spirits high and her emotions calm. Not to mention the after effects of the relaxing reward will have far reaching benefits for Mary for the rest of the holiday season.

The most important thing you can do for yourself and your loved ones this holiday season is to strategize your happiness. Take just a moment, now, to set up and declare the times and the things that are to be your rewards. In this moment you are taking, check in with yourself. What are you feeling needy about and what makes you feel good. Make a quick list of both your needs and your desires. Then set your rewards based on those lists. Be sure to take your rewards, as planned and when needed. Do something for yourself every day! If a reward goes unused, it may be a lost moment of potential happiness. This lost happiness is not just for you. It is a happiness that can easily be spread to loved ones, coworkers, and co-shoppers.

Take a moment, or several, this holiday season to enjoy the most important person in your life - YOU!

Here are three runes that can help you if you are feeling a bit sad, overwhelmed, frustrated, or just plain stressed. Hold these three runes in your hand. Think of all the happy things in your life, now. Then say, to yourself, "My happiness is returned to me, over and over, whenever I focus on it.". This is their English Galdr (rune song). Carry these runes with you, maybe even in a little pouch. When you need a small diversion from the day, hold the runes and say the galdr. Eventually, you may not need the runes as you will carry their energy with you in their galdr song.

Try it, and let me know how it works for you.

Here is a spontatiously created galdr for abundance.

I focused my attention on the ‘creation of abundance', pulled three runes, and here is the outcome:

To use, post this somewhere where you will see it regularly. Say it to yourself 10 times, three times a day. If you have a set of runes, hold these three runes as you say it. Even carry those three runes with you, all day, to remind you of the work you are doing. The runes will work to align your spiritual being, the words will work to align your conscious and subconscious to be open to abundance.

Five Laws of Success

The first law is the Law of Attraction: the energy and actions that we put out into the world is the energy and actions that we receive back. That is really what Karma is about. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions attract to us what we receive in the world. Outer reality does indeed mirror what is inside of us.

The second law is the Law of Intention: setting intentions, clearly and definitely are essential in creating lives that we truly enjoy. The more clearly that intentions are set, the more easily we can create them.

The third law is the Law of Celebration and Gratitude: cultivating an attitude of gratitude and counting your blessings creates the heart space for more blessings to come into your life.

 The fourth law is the Law of Receptivity: our ability to have a joyous and abundant life is only limited by our capacity to receive. It is important to increase your ability to receive.

The fifth law is the Law of Involvement: our lives are our responsibility. Do your own part. Involve yourself in the process of creating your life. Remember it is your life!

Occasionally, I contemplate these laws and see runic associations. What I find interesting is that for two of these Laws (1^st and 4^th) one rune fits both appropriately - Gebo.

Gebo is the rune for gifts and generosity. It reminds me of a couple of lines out of the Havamal (Norse Poetry - yes Viking types were renowned for composing poetry):

Better not to offer too much for a gift demands a gift

Better unsent then to send too much

There is so much that can be said about these two simple lines: everything from karma, to working with a cup that is full, to the way we interact with others. But those are thoughts for a different time. If you would like, add these lines of the Havamal into your contemplative practice to see what they mean to you - there is much wisdom in the Havamal.

For the purpose of this writing, the implications of the lines show the two-way nature of Gebo. Gebo reminds us that if we are generous enough to give, then someone must be generous enough to receive. This is a lesson that was hard learned for me. I once had a hard time accepting gifts and would make a bit of a fuss when I was gifted with anything. Then a whisperer reminded me that the perceived selfless act of the giver may be a way of that person increasing there "good karma" or reducing their "bad karma" - there is a complex Nordic fatalism system involved in the discussion with the whisperer, I just inserted more commonly understood words for the terms they used with me.

Ultimately stated, my openness to receive was a generous action towards the giver. When I was open to receive, it allowed the proper flow of energy so that friendship and all sorts of good energy could find a process flow. My hindering the giving process was a hindrance to all things.

There is a meditative practice here. Contemplate the First and Fourth laws. See and feel them as if you had a golden Gebo on your heart. This golden Gebo allows you to receive, just as it allows you to give - a two way street. It is your opening, of friendship, bonds, and all sorts of other good stuff with other people. Remember, if you allow yourself to receive, then you have more things in which you can give. It is the reverse of "a gift demands a gift". Maybe the lesson of Gebo is "a gift received is a gift given".

All things that are matter are made up of energy - little blips of light that move slower than the speed of light - something mentioned in the works of Deepak Chopra.

This energy can be thought of as living energy - this is a term I have learned from the works of James J Traitz (author of Don't Stop you Mind). Both of these authors agree that all matter is made up of atoms; all atoms made up of electrons, neutrons and protons; these particles are made up of little bits of living energy - the little blips of light that move slower than the speed of light.

Since all things in our reality are made up of matter, then everything in our reality, including ourselves are nothing but energy (and lots of empty space). You, and all the things in your reality, are made up of small blips of light moving at less than the speed of light - that is, living energy.

This living energy that makes up all things is created from our minds that imagined what this reality must look like and how it acts. That is, conscious and unconscious intentions create the forms of energy that eventually take shape as matter in the world around us.

Now runes are included in this make up of all things. Runes are little bits of living energy that exist within all things. The thing about runes is that the living energy that makes up the runes was created in a time before time by beings that exist at a higher level of consciousness than any divinity that can be understood by mankind.

This runic energy that exists within all things, everywhere, is something that you can tap into. Runes are living bits of energy with a singular focused intention. It is this living energy that you can grasp and load into an object - like a piece of wood with a rune stave carved into it (the rune is not the carving, rather it is the energy that lives within the carving). When you do that, the piece of wood with the runic energy alive within it becomes the shaper of your new reality.

The Universal Principal of Attraction says "similarities attract and perpetuate". Runic energy that has come to life in a piece of wood begins to reorient the energies that exist in the world around it. This energy can be of the nature of abundance, peace, prosperity, enlightenment, or any other intention you create it with. This runic energy draws people, situations, and reorients the energetic nature of the matter that exists around you (and it). All of these pieces working together create a new, energetic world in which you can build you new life.

All you have to do:

• Tap into your own living energetic intention - what do you want to create in the world
• Create the body for which this intention shall live in -a rune stave carved into wood
• Bring that intention to life with the living energy of the singularly focused intention of the rune
• Then allow the rune to work, knowing that it is working to alter the energetic nature of reality around it

Little by little, day after day you will notice your reality starting to shift.

Runes can be used successfully in shamanic practices and spiritual journeying. Beyond the small rune stones that fit into one's hands, runes are little bits of focused energy that exist within all things. To access this energy, we just need to change our focus, call upon the runes (by name) and surrender ourselves to their energetic influence.

There are three runes that work together to alter one's spiritual being into a shamanic state:

 Ei - Eiwaz (aye-wahz) is the rune of the yew tree. It is long associated with graveyard, and the realm of the dead.  Eiwaz also represents the world tree Yggdrasil. This is the conduit of energy that connects all the worlds together. Traveling along this tree is one way of achieving shamanic journeying.

E - Ehwaz (eh-wahz) is the rune of the horse. It represents travel and status of the traveler. Ancient Nordic Shaman, or Seid-workers were highly revered, if not feared, for their talents. There are stories in the Norse lore about a horse being used to cross from the land of the living, into the land of the dead. This is especially true of Sleipnir, Odin's horse. In the case of shamanic journeying, Ehwaz represents the vehicle, or means by which a person crosses the veil. It can take on the imagery of a horse, or it can simply be the energetic conversion of one's spiritual being into a different realm.

L - Laguz (lah-gooz) is the rune of water mysteries. Tied in with Laguz is emotions and psychic abilities. Since we are dealing with a spiritual journey, words of the conscious mind are not as useful. One must tap into their emotional being in order to process and understand the energetic states they are experiencing. The depth of the water mysteries connected with Laguz allows one to tap into this energetic part of themselves so they can truly understand the spiritual nature of the realms they are traveling to.

The combined energy of these three runes works to effectively alter ones spiritual energy to a shamanic state. It is almost as if it liquefies a person's spiritual being so that it can easily slip out of this world and into another world. And then easily slip back.

Singing the Runes

Since runes have a phonetic value to them, they also have a sound that can be sung. When you are doing your preparation for journeying sing the rune sounds. It also helps, if you have someone drumming for you, for this person to sing the rune sounds.  It is also useful to use this rune song if you feel yourself starting to slip back, or losing focus on the journey.

Aye-leh

You can even sing the names of the individual runes so that it becomes sort of a chant:

Eiwaz, Laguz, Ehwaz - Aye-leh, Aye-leh, Aye-leh.

Drumming the Runes

Believe it or not, there is actually a drumming pattern that works for these runes. The 24 runes of the Elder Futhark can be broken down into three rows of eight runes. Based on Futhark order, and in which row the rune falls gives the number of beats that are in the pattern. For our three runes, that pattern is:

XX-XXX-XXX - This can be easily played as two quarter notes followed by two triplets. What matters here is not necessarily the timing of the beats. What matters is that you have one grouping of two beats, and two groupings of three beats.

Playing this drum beat and singing these runes will induce one into a shamanic trance. It is at this point that one needs Shamanic training in order to point themselves in the correct direction for their journey.

Final notes

It must be noted, that these runes will give one an inclination to journey to the underworld and into the realm of the dead. This is because there are two runes are associated with the dead: Eiwaz and Ehwaz. This place is not necessarily  a bad place, nor a dangerous place. It is a place where you want to be alert and aware of your surroundings, who is talking to you, and what sensations you are experiencing.

A lifeline that will bring you back into reality, and into your own body is Mannaz. Mannaz is the rune of our world and of mankind. Singing this rune will bring you back into normal consciousness and back to Earth. The drum beat for Mannaz is three solid beats - XXX. Sing Mannaz and beat this rhythm until you feel yourself fully returned.

Another useful rune is Elhaz. If ever you feel uncomfortable, uncertain, or worse, call upon the rune of Elhaz. It is a protective rune that is connected with the higher vibrational energies of the upper world. Calling upon Elhaz will dispel all those will ill intent and will bring you to a safe place.