How are you feeling today? Me, I’m tired. As a result, I need more than my usual daily mini-breaks. Today it’s time for a heavy dose of tender loving care.
Many of us have so many responsibilities in life that we forget to take care of ourselves. The mind reasons that it’s silly to take a bath, a nap, a walk, or a break with so many other priorities still sitting in queue. But daily conscious and spontaneous self-care is essential to our physical and emotional health, as well as increasing our joy.
Take Care of Your Body
What could be more wonderful than to relax and be comfortable in your own body? Making sure you feel good in your own skin and enjoy living in your own body requires that you accept stewardship of your body-temple, honor it, respect it, and take the best care of it. Your body will tell you what it wants and needs to be healthy, but it’s up to you to listen and follow through with action.
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Achy? Get a massage, take a warm bath, and relax.
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Tired? Maybe you’re needing some physical activity to get your energy flowing again.
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Unhealthy? Food isn’t just fat, carbs, numbers and calories – it’s life! Choose living colorful foods that your body craves and get involved with cooking some of your own meals. Nothing tastes and feels better than home cooking.
Listen to your body and take action everyday to increase the respect, kindness, and fun that you have in your body. Treat your body well. When you increase your body care, the rest of your life flows more easily.
Take Care of Your Mind
Your mind does a lot of things well, like organizing information and putting things in the right order. But there’s a lot of things your mind does that makes your life less than enjoyable. For example, negative thinking, obsessing over a problem, stressing about something that has already happened, and worrying all contribute to decreased joy.
Take care of your mind by having a talk with it. You don’t have to suppress negative, stressful, or obsessive thoughts. Instead, you can have a conversation with your mind and tell it that while you appreciate its efforts, there’s a better way to handle your life.
Accept your thoughts, but also go beyond them into that place within where you generate creative solutions. What’s the best that could happen? What’s the highest possible outcome? Breathe and invite positive solutions. Then relax and allow those creative solutions to arrive. While you’re waiting, feel your gratitude and appreciation for life, and share those experiences with your mind.
Take Care of Your Spirit
Be conscious and spontaneous in taking care of your spirit. If the sun is shining, take a walk. If it’s raining, go somewhere quiet, close your eyes, and absorb the beauty of the rhythm of the falling raindrops. Take a scenic drive on a moment’s notice. Create moments of solitude. Dance naked. Find opportunities to laugh more, and practice random acts of kindness for others and yourself. You get the idea! Taking care of your spirit is a very personal thing, but it won’t happen by itself. Say yes to the choices that warm your heart and spread your love wherever you go. You were born to bring your spirit into this life and the way you do is by spending more time sharing yourself with what you find beautiful.
Relax, refresh, and do what you can to create a great day!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hi Annette,
I’m just out of the tub and had a nice, refreshing bath. Smell and feel absolutely peachy…..used peach body wash. I love what you say about “talkng to your mind”. I firmly believe that we can make things happen when we use our creative juices. I find visualization of a picture placed on the fridge, for example, gets the mind going and when we want something, this can be the first step to creating joy.
Being spontaneous works wonders for my spirit. I often drop what I am doing ,especially housework, and simply read my book away from all distractions, or go for a walk etc. I love solititude and cherish my time alone. Laughter is definitely a stress buster and I can laugh at my follies. I used to feel guilty about putting my husband and our dog on hold……not anymore. If I have the urge to do something just for myself, I just do it. I have learned over the years that the more you do for others, the more they come to expect. haha
Thank you for yet another great article.
Love, Kathleen