Self Care & You. So Happy Together.

Self Care is a practice of mindfulness that is woven into your daily life.

Flowing and changing with you on your journey of self-discovery.

In this post:

• Take Time For Yourself
• So Happy Together
• Your Body, Your Temple
• Make Sense of It
• Mind Your Mind
• Connect Your Spirit
• Feed Your Mind

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Take Time For Yourself

You, your body, your mind, your spirit and your soul need connection.

When you miss your family and friends, you reach out and connect with them. Why do you not do this with yourself?

Every day, have a self check-in. Just as you do with your children, spouse, parents, boss.

• 15 minutes of meditation each morning.
• Begin your day with a beautiful stretch. Connecting mindfully to each part of your body. Take an assessment of how everything feels. Breathe in, breathe out and be grateful for waking to a new day.
• Take a few minutes to write in your Gratitude Journal.
• Sip coffee at a sunrise.

Spend time with yourself on a regular basis. Plan a standing date with yourself. It’s vital to your self care, and yes, there is always a way to make time for you. Think hard, be creative. If it can only be an hour, so be it, but whatever your time allotment, make it a special date.

• Pamper and indulge. Show some love. Give yourself a hug. Take a bubble bath and bring the ambiance.
• Exercise for release. Craft, cook, watch a movie, read, explore your creativity. Take a class at your local library.
• Wander in nature, bring your nature journal.
• Lay in a hammock. Bring a pillow. Watch the branches sway above you. Take a nap.
• Turn down the lights, light the candles, grab a blanket, pillow and a book. Add some tea.

Self Care & you. So happy together.

Congratulations on arriving at this place in your journey.

Self Care is a magnificent recognition and acknowledgment of the beautiful, authentic you.

It is fundamental for your essence.

After all, who else is going to make sure you are truly cared for, holistically, from the inside out?

As you begin to focus your attention on Self Care, gently recognize there is no reason to master everything immediately. It is better to start slow. Weave mindful practices into your daily life gradually. Moving too quickly, with too many new things becomes overwhelming, leading to frustration and abandonment.

~ Love yourself, Love the journey, Cherish the time ~

As you read this article, be mindful of strategies and ideas that connect with you.

Praise yourself for those already incorporated into your daily life.

For new strategies, pick one or two at a time. Mindfully begin weaving them in.

When you are ready, which is really important – when YOU are ready – come back to the article and select one or two additional strategies. Integrate the new strategies into your daily life. Again, no timeline. Allow them to slowly become part of your rhythm. It is so important to have open parameters.

~ The pressure you feel is the pressure you allow yourself to feel ~

Be good to yourself. Allow all the time you need to gradually incorporate more and more self care strategies.

Before you know it, they will be second nature. Easy Peasy.

Your Body, Your Temple

Note: I am not a health care professional or a nutritionist. This is not intended to provide medical advice.

Learn about your body. Love your physical self.

You are beautiful. Know that, believe that. There is only one, YOUnique, authentic you, and you are amazing.

When it comes to your nutrition and what your body needs, listen to and trust your intuition.

As they say, literally, trust your gut. If you think you need more vegetables, you probably do. Go eat some. If you think you are not drinking enough water, you’re probably not. Go drink some. If you indulge, do so mindfully and stop shaming yourself by saying you are ‘being bad’ or ‘cheating’.

Recognize that everyone has a diet. By definition, a diet is food and drink regularly provided or consumed. We must have diets to survive. They are not exclusive to those that want to shed a pound or two. Vegetarian, low sodium, low cholesterol, monitored calorie intake, gluten free and dairy free are all varieties of diets.

3 Self Care Strategies To Focus on Your Body, Your Diet:

1. Set an appointment with your doctor for a physical, which should include a routine blood workup. A full physical tells you so much; including changes you might need to make to your diet. Top Reasons To Have Your Annual Physical Exam
2. Start a food journal. Food intolerances can make you feel lousy. For some, there are tests your doctor can recommend. For others, you may need to keep a food diary and/or follow an elimination diet. Discuss how you feel with your doctor.
3. Be mindful of what, and how, you eat. How To Practice Mindful Eating

Make Sense Of It

Sight, sound, taste, smell, touch.

Your senses bring information in and that means they play a big role in self care.

How awesome is a nice, long, hot shower; or a seductive hot bath; after a long stressful day? Wash away the negativity, flush down the dirt and emerge lighter, fresher.

Have on hand products that delight you. Soap, shampoo, lotion, powder, body scrubs, loofas and soft cuddly robes. Aromas to thrill your nose, textures to tingle your skin, and fabrics to wrap up and carry you away.

Our eyes see images, interpreted by our brains. If my couch looks cold, my brain says don’t sit. It then processes that my body is tired and wants to sit. So I give my eyes a feast to send to my brain, which then sends my body the message to allow a sultry sink into my couch.

Create the eye candy. The cozy look of a throw blanket, awaiting your presence on the couch. Lying next to the snuggly pillow you love. Enticing you to rest your weary bones.

~ Your Space Matters ~

Throw rugs that are soft for your toes. Pictures upon shelves that make you smile. Cool colors on your walls. Chairs with cushions and plants to clean your air. A candle, incense or a pot of sauce on the stove.

~ Indulge Your Senses ~

Don’t forget your work space. The cool lines and soft colors of your pen holder. Push pins that are soothing in texture. The welcoming coffee mug that fits your hand like a glove. The pictures that surround your work space, the view you look out to.

~ Indulge Yourself in Loving Care ~

Using Your Senses For Self Care

Mind Your Mind

Reminder: I am not a health care professional or a nutritionist. This is not intended to provide medical advice.

My Sand Toy Broke

I had a sand toy when I was little. It was thin and tall. On top there was a funnel, that I would pour sand into. The sand would funnel through and sprinkle down onto a wheel, which would turn and deliver the sand to a tray, that tipped and poured the sand down a tube, that sent it to the left, and down another wheel, where it finally reached the ground.

In the beginning, the sand just flowed on through. It was mesmerizing to watch.

One day, a spoke on a wheel snapped. The sand still flowed. It still made its way down to the bottom; just not as smoothly as it once did. It had to go around and avoid the area that was building up and clogging.

After awhile, the broken spoke wore down and fell off. The sand started to pile up more and began clogging one of the tubes.

The toy still worked though.

Sand found a way to get through and travel down to the bottom, avoiding the broken parts, which were building faster now. They were becoming bigger, threatening to break the whole thing into pieces.

So I Fixed It

I always think of our brains like this sand toy.

We experience life. Things hurt us, cause fear or sadness and spokes break inside us.

We still work, even though we’re a little broken.

Much like the sand toy, if we don’t fix ourselves, the problem gets worse. It builds, gaining momentum, affecting more areas, until we start to break down.

Mind your clogs. Mend your broken spokes.

Seek the help of a professional. A therapist and/or a psychologist. They can help you find and mend the broken spokes. Maybe even find some you didn’t even know were bent.

Spending time with a therapist was the most wonderful gift I ever gave myself.

Connect Your Spirit

A friend of mine hosted a book club. The book of choice was Spiritual Bypassing, by Robert Augustus Masters, PHD. This was a book that changed the way I saw spiritualism, in the most incredible way.

This book taught me how to truly become spiritual. How to move beyond what we think, and have been taught, to be a spiritual practice, into a space of what it truly means to be spiritual.

Spirituality is deeper that attending a church or synagogue. Anyone can walk into a place of worship. Our mouths can say the words of a prayer, can feel the love that surrounds us in beautiful houses of worship.

Ask yourself, how deep does it go?

Do you feel a connection with your essence?

Full, complete connection of your inner light, in an untouchable, ethereal way, entering a higher realm of being, that is to practice spirituality. Whatever your belief, whatever your religion or practice, if you are to truly be spiritual, you need to take it deep within.

I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.

john lennon

Feed Your Mind

Challenge yourself. Intellectually, take yourself to a new place.

Find a topic you love, and begin exploring.

Attend seminars, read books, listen to podcasts.

Intellectual Wellness helps you move from a rut, a place of boredom and slack to a place of newness. Bright and shiny, working the rusted wheels in your brain. Turning and churning to bring new life to space left forgotten.

12 Proven Ways To Increase Your Intellectual Wellness

~ Self Care & You. So happy together. ~

I hope you see the connection of self care and you; and why together they are happy.

Peace & Love,

Lorraine