For those who are natural givers, the holiday season can be both a source of excitement and exhaustion. Here are 10 essential strategies to keep you balanced and grounded while you tackle your holiday duties.

When we meet someone who is very different from us, we can be quick to dismiss them because how they think and believe doesn't make sense to us. Sometimes, the differences are so fundamental that there can be no reconciliation or compromise.

Is it still possible to love those people?

What I’ve discovered is that most people in any given community are there for the same reasons I am, to feel a sense of belonging. They’re hoping to find genuine connections, to share knowledge and interests, and create lasting friendships.

This journey can also pose many challenges and dilemmas, such as how authentic is too authentic? Should I always tell the truth about how I feel? Is the world around me ready to hear my truths?

Releasing each piece of your truth is like dropping a brick you’ve been carrying in your chest. Except you didn’t know you were carrying it until it was dropped and you all of a sudden felt lighter in the heart.

The International Labor Organization released a report that found working long hours, defined as more than 55 hours a week, was responsible for 745,000 deaths from stroke and heart disease in 2016 — a 29% increase since 2000.

In the intervening two-plus decades, I have experienced countless emotions, thoughts, reflections, regrets and losses, as well as victories, successes, lessons and blessings.

Many people who talk about empowering others to become more motivated and fulfill their potential, yet when they meet a truly empowered individual, they hold back their support or are even quick to tear them down.

We have forgotten how to love and be loved, because love has become such a complicated matter. Many end up spending their life chasing the idea of love while putting up barriers to protect themselves from the pain of losing love.

During each occurrence, I found myself in a deep state of bliss, enveloped in an indescribable feeling of love, and crying tears of joy uncontrollably. I felt it from deep within, but also from above and around me.

Emotional abandonment is leaving our emotional needs unattended, often without acknowledging or addressing it with a response. That can leave us feeling confused, unsettled and unloved for a long time.

That was when I came across the powerful idea of choosing happiness, as a decision. I realized then happiness is a commitment — it is a practice I would have to adhere to in order for it to last and expand.

Many of us were raised to have the capacity to attract good things in life. Fewer of us have the capacity to attract a flow of good things into our life continuously. Yet, there are also many who were conditioned to sabotage or block good things from entering or staying in their lives.

If everything in life seems to work against you, or you are experiencing a difficult loss in your life and nothing is going right at the moment, taking a big breath and a big step back to regain your stability might be just what you need.

Throughout history, different religions, philosophers, and governments refined and rewrote a list of fundamental virtues to fit their constitutions and purpose at the time. Yet, in 1726, young Benjamin Franklin, at the age of 20, created a list of virtues for himself, to help him develop into the person he wanted to become.

Cutting off bad ties signifies that we are no longer willing to stay in relationships or situations that make us unhappy, no matter what challenges we may face in the future. It is a testament to the determination of wanting more for ourselves.

They each originated from a different culture, a different time, and a different mindset altogether. Yet, if you pause and think about the philosophy behind each, they all echo a similar sentiment, although are slightly different in approach.

Experiencing triggered emotions is simply human. We each have our own specific pain points that others may not be aware of or understand. The speed and intensity of those reactions vary from person to person.

Perfection also instills fear in us—fear of failure and fear of our personal imperfections. This fear leads us down a dark path where we tend to avoid challenging situations or competitions because failure seems unbearable.

In order to allow love to enter, our heart will have to be open to it. The wider it is open to receive, the greater the love will enter. The chance of heartbreak and disappointment will always be there… Our mind cannot separate us from love, it can only create fear.