The holidays are always a busy time – There are many parties, presents and pies. December is a great month to focus on your integrity and create a more peaceful environment to live and work in. Let It Go Yoga’s Personal Integrity checklist shows the many ways that you can organize specific areas of your life. I highly recommend reading through all the items and setting a date for yourself to accomplish each task. Once you start working on yourself, you will experience more personal awareness and peace of mind (and peace on earth, since it is the holiday season and that seems to come up a lot!)

Here are 10 items from the checklist to get you started on your journey. You can download the full list below!

Clean up your living space.

When you take your holiday decorations out of the attic, see if you can find time to clean up your storage space and reorganize your boxes. You may be hosting a holiday party this month, which will give you the opportunity to put away items where they belong and stray away from stuffing things in a pile in the back of the closet. Even if you’re not throwing a gathering, cleaning up your space will make you feel more at ease during the busy holiday season.

Give away or throw away any items that you no longer need or want.

Find some time to look through the items that you’ve accumulated over the past year and decide if you truly need each and every one. The holiday season is the perfect time to give away toys, gadgets or homemade goods to friends or family. If you don’t know who to give it to, there are many donation centers that will be happy to accept the items that you have been keeping around the house.

Balance your checkbook.

Look over your finances and make sure everything is in order before you make your big holiday purchases. Once you have everything balanced, try to stick to a budget for the entire holiday season. You can always be creative with your holiday gifts and make something crafty instead of going over budget. Your friends and family will love that you spent time making them something special!

Get back anything that you lent to another and now want or contact the borrower and turn it into a gift. 

I often notice when I’m going through my closet that some of the items that I need during the winter season have been borrowed by my friends or family. The perfect time to have those items returned is when I’m visiting with them over the holidays. I check with them in advance to make sure they have what I wanted and then feel more at ease once everything has been returned. If I decide that I no longer need an item, I can let it go!

Communicate and make agreements that support you in your personalrelationships.

You may be asked to attend a variety of events over the holiday season, so make sure to only commit to social gatherings that work for you and your schedule. Your time spent with others during the holidays should be positive, so feel free to take a break if you are not feeling supported. When you are honest with your feelings and commitments, you will unlock a sense of self that allows you to feel happier at the events that you choose to partake in.

Collect any monies owed to you.

Don’t be afraid to send out those invoices! Recall any instances in which you have money owed to you and make a plan to receive what you are owed. This may involve calling or communicating with more than one person, so don’t get discouraged! Tell them that you need to get your accounts in order by the end of the year.

Replace or repair anything that no longer works. 

See if you can repair something that has broken for awhile – You’ll feel accomplished if you Google how to easily fix something and follow the directions. If it needs replaced entirely, add it to your holiday wish list.

Organize your personal and business files.

Time to look through all of your paperwork and organize! Most of my important documents are sitting in a pile until I take the time to file them away properly. Create some new files and keep things neat and tidy for when you go back to work in 2019.

Deliver any out standing communications necessary: letters, phone calls, email, etc.

Before you take a break from work for the holidays, make sure you are in integrity by making a list of all the communications that need to be returned before the end of the year. You will feel great returning emails and texts and checking them off the list as you go.

Read an inspiring personal book that supports your journey.

Finish off the checklist with a book that you find interesting and worth spending your time reading. I recommend perusing the reviews of the 2018 bestselling books and seeing what catches your eye. You could even ask for that book as a holiday gift!

I hope this list provides some motivation for working on yourself during the holiday season! Some of these goals will take longer than others, so be honest with yourself when you set a date to accomplish each task. Click below for the complete Personal Integrity checklist from Let It Go Yoga! Happy Holidays!

Contributed by Emily Parsons, Certified Let It Go Yoga teacher, Actress, Writer and Comedian in Los Angeles, California.

Want to know more about Let It Go Yoga? Start here with our FREE Personal Integrity Chaecklist!