💌 WITH LOVE, DOMINIQUE

Bringing meditation, mindset, and spirituality down-to-earth to empower your authenticity & greatest potential.

 📚️ VOL 31 / 🕖️ READ TIME: 3 m 15 s

IN TODAY’S ISSUE:

• 💭 WE’RE DIVING INTO / FINDING REAL (NOT FORCED) JOY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

• ✏️ QUESTION FOR REFLECTION + GUIDING TIP/ TIPS FOR FINDING REAL (NOT FORCED) JOY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

•  📞🧘 WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER / CURRENT OPENINGS & OFFERINGS

DIVING INTO: FINDING REAL (NOT FORCED) JOY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

Hi love,

For a season that’s branded as “the happiest time of the year,” the holidays can feel surprisingly heavy. 

And if you’re feeling it too, you’re not imagining it — the data backs you up. According to the American Psychological Association, 41% of U.S. adults say their stress increases during this time. 

Even more telling, 43% say that stress interferes with their ability to enjoy the season, and 36% feel like the holidays become a competition.

So if joy feels harder to access right now, there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re simply human, moving through a season that carries more emotional complexity than the collective likes to acknowledge.

Between family dynamics that bring up old roles, financial pressure that stretches you thin, social expectations that ask more of you than you may have capacity for, and the literal lack of sunlight if you’re living somewhere like NYC, it’s no surprise that “holiday cheer” can feel forced. 

Add in loneliness, comparison, nostalgia, and the pressure to appear happy because everyone else looks joyful — especially online — and joy can feel more like a performance than a feeling.

Which is why this season is the perfect invitation to reconnect with real joy — the kind that’s grounded, honest, and felt from the inside out.

Real joy doesn’t demand anything from you. It doesn’t require you to match the room or force a smile or pretend you’re in a different emotional chapter than you’re actually in. 

Real joy is subtle. It’s quiet. It’s found in presence, not perfection. And often, it comes through most clearly when you stop trying to manufacture it — by making the external match it, and instead finding it within. 

One of the ways to access it is by releasing the pressure to “feel joyful” at all. 

When joy becomes an expectation, it morphs into something performative. 

But when joy becomes a noticing — a soft awareness instead of a requirement — it naturally expands. 

Let yourself notice the small, unglamorous moments that feel good without needing to justify why. A warm mug between your hands. A moment of peace before the day starts. A conversation that feels grounding. A breath that feels deeper than the last one.

These small pockets of ease are not insignificant. They are your nervous system signaling that joy is still available, even in seasons that feel complicated. 

Modern psychology shows that our minds are wired to scan for what’s missing — a survival mechanism — which means most people overlook the micro-moments where genuine joy actually lives. Redirecting your awareness—even slightly—creates a noticeable shift in emotional state. It’s not toxic positivity, it’s intentional presence.

Another practice is releasing the idea that joy has to look a certain way. Ask yourself: “What if this moment is already perfect, and I’m only missing it because I’m focusing on the expectations of what it should be?” 

This reframe helps soften the edges of the season. Joy becomes something you feel rather than something you perform.

And finally, give yourself permission to participate in the holidays in a way that honors your truth — not what you think you’re supposed to feel. 

Joy grows where honesty lives. It expands in environments where you stop forcing yourself to be someone you’re not and start allowing yourself to experience the moment exactly as it is.

This year, let joy be simple. Let it be real. Let it be yours.

✏️ QUESTION FOR REFLECTION + GUIDING TIP: FINDING REAL (NOT FORCED) JOY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

Question for Reflection:
What moments — big or small — have brought me genuine ease or warmth this season, and how can I bring more awareness or make more space for those?

Guiding Tip:
When you feel yourself comparing, forcing, or performing, pause and ask: “If I was being totally honest with myself right now, what would bring me ease and joy right now?” Move toward that. Let it be enough.

With love,
Dominique

🧘 📞 WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER: OPENINGS & OFFERINGS

If these newsletters and practices hit for you — coaching is where we take this from insight to embodied real-life change. Here’s how to work with me — from high-touch coaching to intimate group cohorts designed to help you move toward your vision with clarity, ease, and purpose. 

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