"You gotta pay the price," one of my clients is always telling me. She's referring to what is a law of physics, and also the way things work - what goes up must come down.

The higher your Christmas, the more exciting, chaotic and tumultuous, the more likely you'll be tumbling down just as far. Why? According to psychneuroimmunologist (big word meaning the effect of brain and emotions on health, i.e., immunology), Paul Pearsall, Ph.D., our smart bodies want to establish equilibrium. Picture a graph on a midline. The midline is calm, routine. We can get very happy and go up; or very unhappy and go down. Therefore, if our emotions go way up, there will come a time when our inner wisdom brings us down low, so we settle back into that middle space.

Does this mean if you have a terrible grief or depression, you can expect to be that happy at some time in the future? I've seen it happen. It's a tenet of Emotional Intelligence that if stuff down one emotion, you suppress them all. In other words, if you face grief and go through it, not around it, you will carve out a space to be filled with happiness. If you don't, you shut down, and become numb, in which case you don't feel the bad, but you also don't feel the good, and greatly limit your experience of life.

So, if you're having a "down" period now what do you do? First of all, accept it. You can last it out. Fighting it exhausts you and gives the negative feelings more power.

To speed it on its way: 1. Get active. Exercise an extra hour. It creates physical energy, it clears the mind, and flushes out toxic emotions. Do it especially if you don't feel like it. 2. If you're an introvert you may prefer something like yoga or Tai Chi. 3. Clean your house from top to bottom, doing the physical work yourself. Do it like a ritual, that is, with meaning. This is to get rid of the yuch, and make room for the sunshine. This is a tradition in many cultures at the New Year for a reason - because of what we're all going through right now! Throw stuff out, sweep toward the doors, vacuum then take the bag out and dump it in the garbage, wash the furniture with something like Murphy's soap. 4. Accept quiet times and go with the flow. Curl up by the fire and read a good book. Sit in a rocker and stare. Coddle yourself with extra long baths with special lotions. Get your nails done. Get massages. Fix yourself a warm breakfast. It's kind of a hibernating time anyway. 5. Jumpstart your thinking brain. Start a new course. If you're an extravert, go to community ed classes. If you're an introvert, enjoy yourself on the internet and in teleclasses. 6. Start a new intellectual project at work and/or at home. 7. Start anything new - new health club, new piano lessons, coaching, fencing lessons, new hairstyle. 8. If you live in an area where this is high allergy-time (such as Texas), adjust your diet, because it's cumulative - pollen PLUS diet PLUS dust and mold inside your house will take its toll. 9. Bolster your immune system, which has been under assault from the emotions with a good neutraceutical such as Arbonne's DefenseBuilder ( http://susandunn.myarbonne.com ), scientifically proven to nutritionally support your immune system. Your immune system is your FIRST line of defense against bacteria (pneumonia) and your ONLY line of defense against viruses (like flu and bird flu). It's true. Ask your doctor. 10. Laugh. One simple exercise is to put a pencil in your teeth crosswise. This makes the muscles of your face into a smile, and this helps our bodies. It gives us the same great relief a good laugh does. 11. Enjoy the healing properties of music. Join Club Vivo Per Lei / I Live for Music (www.susandunn.cc/vivoperlei.htm) to learn more. It's fr**. 12. Don't fight it. There is no need to appear "Miss Congenialty" when you aren't feeling that way. It's okay to be in a quiet place.

Also, because this is the peak of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), get more sunshine. Exercise outside. Take a Caribbean cruise. When the sun crosses the bed in the spare bedroom, go lie down and soak up the rays.

Change is the only thing that stays constant, so know that your mood will eventually find its place. If you are seriously depressed, please see on of the many mental health professionals available to help you.

About the author:

Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc, mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc . Individual coaching, Internet courses, ebooks, EQ Alive! coach certification program, rated #1, training worldwide. For nutriceuticals, skin care, baby products, cosmetics, anti-aging, acne, go to http://susandunn.myarbonne.com . Email for FR** EQ ezine