Coping With Holiday Blues

For many people the winter is far less a time of peace and goodwill and far more a time when the hassles of hectic Christmas shopping, over-crowded stores, storms, gray skies, and sometimes a heightened sense of loneliness all can greatly increase stress and chance of illness. Winter, for instance, is traditionally associated with colds. Yet contrary to what our mothers may have told us, doctors now know that exposure to wind and low temperatures will not bring on a common cold. Nor will improper eating habits or poor health practices. In fact, in strict medical terms, there are no known predisposing factors to a common cold. The latest medical research continues to support the original discoveries made by internationally acclaimed author L. Ron Hubbard. As detailed in his perennial 20 million-copy best-seller Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, “the common cold has been found to be psychosomatic.” While there is a comprehensive examination of the links between mental condition and health contained in Dianetics (and it is therefore an excellent book to put on holiday shopping lists) for people of all ages, setting out to simply reduce holiday stress can pay off in a happier and healthier winter. L. Ron Hubbard found that the simplest way to temporarily improve a person’s mental tone was often a simple change of environment. “Taking factors out of the environment… or taking (him) out of an environment in which he is unhappy or ineffective can bring about some astonishingly swift recoveries,” he wrote. While merely a hit and miss mental “pick-me-up”—for reasons Dianetics readers well understand—this can still sometimes work magic.rnIf you find yourself under increased pressure or suffering from bouts of holiday blues, get out some place you don’t usually go. Spend some time doing something new. Or perhaps meet some new people. Winter is supposed to be a happy time. Armed with a little of that positive attitude toward life to which Dianetics is directed, there is no reason the holidays can’t be a special time you enjoy with family and friends. To find out more information about Dianetics, visit www.dianetics.org.