1. The festive season is is rarely a time you’d think of being used to reset your nervous system. Rather, it is usually framed as a time to do more: more socialising, more travelling, more spending, more celebrating, more reflecting, more planning. Even rest is sometimes presented as another task to complete successfully. For many people, this creates a strange contradiction. The very period that is supposed to restore us instead leaves us depleted, overstimulated, and quietly dreading January.

Here today then, let’s explore how to reset your nervous system this festive season.

Psychology and neuroscience offer a different — and more compassionate — lens. Rather than treating the holidays as a productivity gap or a performance test of happiness, contemporary research suggests something more modest and far more realistic: this period functions best as a transition phase to reset your nervous system and aim for recovery, not reinvention.

When I say reset your nervous system, I’m not referring to a reset in the sense of self-optimisation or transformation, but a reset in the physiological sense: down-regulation, integration, and recalibration of systems that have been under sustained load.

Modern stress is rarely acute or short-lived. It is cumulative, anticipatory, and chronic: deadlines, digital overload, constant comparison, financial strain, emotional labour, and cognitive multitasking. Over time, this keeps the nervous system biased toward sympathetic activation, the branch of the autonomic nervous system responsible for mobilisation, vigilance, and threat readiness.

The festive season is one of the few culturally sanctioned pauses in the year. Yet many people use this pause to maintain the same internal pressure — simply in a different context. Psychology suggests this is a missed opportunity, not morally, but biologically.

A nervous system reset is not about becoming permanently calm. It is about restoring the system’s capacity to return to baseline after activation, a core feature of psychological resilience. This article will show you how....

Read full article: Using the Festive Season to Reset Your Nervous System
 

From the vaults....

2. The holidays, ahh. They are only a short distance away! Though my children have been asking top put the Christmas decorations since October, this weekend, we’ll finally be getting underway with it. When we’re in a good place, it can be such a wonderful and joyful time of year. However, for some of us, it might feel like too much to handle and can present a wide array of challenges. When it comes to mentally preparing for the holiday season, everyone is different and has different needs.

Your greatest reluctance to assemble with others indoors to celebrate the season may be COVID or coughs or colds. Or perhaps you are mourning or thinking about a loved one who are not with you. You might also be feeling overburdened by the impending holiday season in general. I work with many families for whom their neurodiverse children find it especially challenging to cope with much of what goes on during the festive season.

Unfortunately, the holiday countdown cannot be stopped. It is tough to avoid in the modern world. You can, however, do your best to be mentally prepared for what lies ahead and deal with the ideas and concerns that are running through your head right now.

The time is right to start mentally getting ready for the holiday season. You might experience stress during this exciting time, for some it can reach the point of burnout. The stress of travelling, hosting, and tidying up everyone else’s messes is also present. Keeping a budget can negatively impact your emotional and mental health. Additionally, there is pressure to make a realistic New Year’s resolution and to resist all the food and drink that is constantly on offer. There is so much going on that it is understandable that many of us find it an exhausting time of year. Thankfully, “the holiday burnout” can be avoided. In order to fully enjoy the holiday season, it is essential to mentally prepare for it. Make it a priority to get ready for the holiday season.

Here today are 19 ways to be mentally and emotionally prepared for the holiday season...

Read full article: How to Be Mentally and Emotionally Prepared for Holiday Season.
 

3. As December arrives, with Christmas around the corner, giving gifts can be on our minds – but how can we do it without getting swept up in the consumerism and without it being stressful? And how do we actually benefit from giving gifts? Today, I’m writing about the psychology of giving gifts; how to choose the best gifts according to science, and also exploring the mental health benefits of doing so.

Gift-giving is an age-old tradition that transcends cultures, religions, and generations. Whether it is a festive season gift, a token of love, an expression of gratitude, or a celebration of achievement, giving gifts is a deeply ingrained human behaviour. But beyond the cultural and social norms lies a profound psychological element that not only enriches relationships but also benefits the giver in surprising ways.

The Science of Giving Gifts
Psychologically, giving gifts is a pro-social behaviour that strengthens social bonds and fosters mutual appreciation. At its core, it triggers emotional and neurochemical responses that enhance both individual and collective well-being.

One of the primary brain regions activated during gift-giving is the mesolimbic pathway, often referred to as the brain’s reward system. Studies reveal that when we give to others, the brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. This effect explains why giving often feels as gratifying as receiving.

A study published in Nature Communications (2017) by Harbaugh et al. demonstrated that the act of giving activates similar neural regions associated with receiving rewards, underscoring the joy of altruism. Additionally, research from the University of Zurich found that participants who made decisions to spend money on others reported higher levels of happiness compared to those who spent on themselves...

Read full article: The Psychological Benefits of Giving Gifts.
 

4. It is that time again… The festive season is upon us… Meals out, celebratory eating and drinking, the feast of Stephen has turned into the feast of sheer gluttony for some people… I have to say I love it, I love the excess… Yet my marathon training in January will not be enjoying the previous excesses as much… How do we enjoy the revellry and keep things in control during this tempting season?

I have written about mindfulness as a therapuetic tool on many occasions and it applies nicely and comfortably to our eating habits too, so I thought I’d share the notion of eating mindfully with you today. 

People often approach Christmas with the misguided belief that eating large quantities of delicious food will give us a lot of pleasure… I frame my Christmas experience that way too… Unfortunately, food is only pleasurable up until a point. It is a challenge, for all of us, to stop eating before feeling overstuffed, needing to loosen the belt, pop that top button and prior to the joy fading.

In part, it is due to the time delay between eating and your body processing food. You also have to know your body extremely well. Mindful eaters are able to and do anticipate the line between pleasure and stuffed (more so than the turkey) as it is approaching rather than passing it and then realising it and regretting it…

Here are a couple of considerations that offer up some basic mindful eating tips to help you eat more mindfully this festive season, and avoid piling on five stone by January and needing some wheels on your running trainers!

Read full article: Eating Mindfully This Festive Season.
 

5. The festive season is drawing ever nearer, isn’t it? Christmas seems to start mid October these days! The Christmas advertisements are on the television, shop fronts are covered in sparkly adornments and of course, we start reaching for those bigger trousers as our waist lines start to increase due to the scoffing that goes on at this time of year.

You should see the winter time mugs of hot chocolate that my wife makes when we go to the Beach Hut at this time of year when the sun shines. All wrapped up watching the sea, the beach quiet and a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Summer… Then she fills the mugs with hot chocolate, topped with cream and brimming over with marshmallows…  Then comes all the rest…

Mince pies. Mulled wine. Turkey feasts with roast potatoes and those delicious pigs in blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon). There is chocolate of every denomination. Huge hams. Slabs of smoked salmon.  It is the only time of year I eat dates and sugared almonds! There are snacks and nibbles that accompany every get together… And there is the booze… We have boozy snowballs which is cava with advocaat, not to mention that we get a barrel of real ale in and more wines and spirits that could get an army inebriated!

It wears me out just thinking about it. 

A problem is created when we eat to excess. The more we eat, the more our mind and body wants to eat. When we eat to excess, especially loads of simple carbs and refined sugars, and then when we sleep less during party season and drink too much, general fatigue also contributes to us eating more.
Then we start craving stuff. We crave and are only satiated when we are stuffed full and snoozing again.  The cycle continues and takes all our might with our new years resolutions to get us on the straight and narrow again.

I get asked repeatedly about how to deal with cravings. The unwanted response is all about eating and drinking in such a way to ensure they do not occur in the first place. People don’t want to hear that stuff.  They always tell me that they know they should have eaten a particular way in the first place… So today I am not going to be writing about that stuff.

So the next best thing, is to have a process aimed at dealing with cravings as they occur.

Read full article: Using Self-Hypnosis and a Hot Air Balloon To Overcome Food Cravings.

Archive Videos:

Some of the videos have references given underneath. These are some of the more popular ones I've recorded in the past 18 months...

1. Bridging the Divide Between Art, Intuition, and Evidence...
I saw a couple of posts just recently stating that science has no place in the hypnosis and hypnotherapy field and why it shouldn’t play a role, and I wanted to offer a rebuttal to some of that rhetoric with a video today. It is longer than usual, but inherently illustrates the ethos of my college, the convention I run and so much more besides....

Watch full video: Why The Hypnotherapy Field Needs Science: A Balanced Rebuttal.

2. I think it is a stimulating and interesting discussion.
Is all hypnosis self-hypnosis? Are self- and hetero-hypnosis distinct entities and if so, at what level? At what point of less involvement by a hypnotist does hetero- become self-hypnosis? Does self-hypnosis warrant a definition of it’s own that is distinct to hetero-hypnosis? Is it actually folly to try and dissociate the two and if so, for what reason?

Watch full video: Muddied Waters: The Challenge of Defining Self-Hypnosis.
 

3. Earlier this year I was interviewed by NCH Chair, Tracey Grist for their organisation’s podcast. It recently went live and I think there is lots to get your teeth into here, enjoy!

Watch full video: Video Interview on NCH Podcast: Redefining Hypnosis – Beyond Misperceptions to Mastery
 

4. During a recent lecture, whilst discussing the importance of oxytocin, I mentioned that 20-second full body hug, as revealed by UCLA’s Stan Tatkin, can enhance your relationships and overall well-being as well as releasing a really healthy amount of oxytocin into your system.

Watch full video: The Power of a 20-Second Full Body Hug: Transforming Relationships and Increasing Oxytocin.
 

5. Stress and Pain Disappear When Oxytocin is Flowing! Adam highlights the astonishing effects that holding hands has on anxiety and pain perception.

In class last weekend, I was discussing somatic approaches to hypnotherapy and I was discussing the impact of techniques that increase oxytocin in the body. Oxytocin flowing through the body can preempt the stress response. In this clip I am referring to a study by Coan, Schaefer & Davidson (2006) whereby 3 groups of women entered an FMRI scanner to see what happened in their brain when they got a slightly unpleasant shock in the ankle.

The brain scans revealed the remarkable difference between being supported by a stranger, a loved one, or alone. The 3rd group of women who are holding the hands of their husbands not only reported no anxiety, but their brains registered no pain, and they even reported having a pleasant experience because they were holding the hand of someone who loves them. Which was in contrast to the experiences of the other groups.

Hypnotherapists can teach their clients a range of practices to activate the oxytocin flow in the body to help preempt the stress response and other clinical applications.

Watch full video: The Power of Love: How Holding Hands Can Reduce Anxiety and Pain.
 

6. In this video Adam explains how a thought form that hypnotherapists equip their clients with is also used by him to help his students understand the variety of componential skills we learn and apply with cognitive approaches to hypnotherapy.

And he kicks the flip chart a few times for good measure!!

Watch full video: Explaining Cognitive Approaches to Hypnotherapy with a Thought Form.
 

7. While in class last week I recorded a quick video outlining a simple ABC model from cognitive therapy that we often use to socialise clients with the cognitive model – the same ABC model (antecedents, beliefs, consequences) is then applied with hypnosis to help conceptualise it and help clients understand why it is useful to have a good understanding of hypnosis before hypnotherapy gets underway.

Watch full video: ABC Socialisation of Cognitive Approaches to Hypnotherapy.