Don’t get stressed out if you can’t find the perfect gifts for your friends and family. Do your best and don’t let the stress and anxiety rob you of your festive joy. Similarly, don’t focus too much on if you are getting the perfect gifts from your loved ones or not.

A Christmas gift is meant to be a token of love.

Moderation.
Pace yourself and enjoy the festive period in moderation. This is only the beginning of December and we still have more than 3 weeks before the end of the year. Eat, drink and party responsibly and reasonably.

Don’t forget to rest and avoid getting sick. With a hectic schedule of more-than-usual social activities, remember to sleep adequately and avoid becoming sick. Otherwise, you won’t be in a position to enjoy this festive season.

Take some time off.
Extra time will come in handy for Christmas shopping and other festive-related activities. I know a few people taking time off to do Christmas shopping. I followed the example and took a half day off this very day. I can attest that it was helpful. If you don’t work, you may want to take some time off from your normal routine instead.

As the month of December have already embarked, we have officially entered the holiday period.
In the midst of the hustle and bustle during this time of the year, a relevant question popped up in my mind: How do we enjoy the holiday season without being carried away by the increased social activities which are meant to be festive?
Thought #1: Spacing them out into next year. Not all the gatherings needed to be organized before the end of the year. We can carry some of them into next year. It is probably better and more enjoyable than “cramming “ them all into Dec.

Back in London, in the midst of fighting against jetlag from my trip to Hong Kong and catching up with work and house chore (yes, I do have to do it), I am battling with the responsibility of a blogger. As a matter of fact, I was being chased after by a couple of loyal blog readers last week in Hong Kong for missing blogs. Well – I will get my act together very soon and live up to the expectation of a blogger.

I have brainstormed with a few friends about the prospects of life coaching in Hong Kong. A couple of interesting points:
1) Though the concept is taking shape, it is not yet popular.
2) As the pace/rhythm of the city is quite rapid, I may have to speed up the frequency of coaching sessions from once a month to once every 2-3 weeks to adopt to the ‘local’ favor.

I asked a friend of mine who is teaching at one of the major universities in Hong Kong what is the most important factor that differentiates a top student from the “crowd”. He replied with confidence that it is the ability to withstand tough times, learn from it and excel at the end.

I can’t agree more. We, more mature people, know very well that there are bound to be both good and tough times in life. The key is not to avoid difficult times (I am not advocating self-inflicted suffering) but to stand firm and become stronger.

I had lunch with a friend in Hong Kong last week and the subject of Emotional Intelligence/EQ came up. My friend said, in his opinion, one important lesson is to pause for one second and avoid making any actions based on impulse. He added that many accidents and tragedies would have been avoided if the split-second rule had been applied. Good point indeed.

Not everything in the world is binary, meaning having only 2 possibilities. Similarly, not everything should be viewed as black and white. For example, it is easy and “convenient” to categorize something or someone as good or bad. However, there is a wide range between good and bad. There are different extents of being good and by the same token, various degrees of being bad.

One needs to be careful and not overly-simplify the world around us by only allowing our mind to have 2 options.