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Have you ever had the thought that Self-Care is Selfish? You’re not alone. But…if that’s you — if you really believe that self-care is selfish, I’m here to burst your bubble.
For many people, the words “Self”, “Self Love” and “Self Care” have connotations with being “selfish” and are therefore thought of as “bad”, but our culture has it dead wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth.
During your everyday life, do you make time to do things that nourish your Self?
In the busyness of your schedule, I wouldn’t be surprised if your answer is no. In fact, I would bet most people don’t even acknowledge, or think about, their true self most days. Sadly, it’s not without a price.
We all know what happens when we don’t feed our (small ‘s’) selves. We starve, we are diminished, and eventually, die.
It withers. We lose touch with our dreams, our purpose, our confidence, our intuition. We forget our true Self, our one true “home”.
And when that happens, we start running on auto-pilot, we make choices that are out of integrity with our intentions, we have habits that don’t support real Health, we find fault in ourselves and others, frustration in things that shouldn’t really bother us…in short, life loses its LIFE. We aren’t Awake, and we certainly aren’t Radiant. That’s a big price to pay!
Being weighed down with regret isn’t the life anyone knowingly chooses, but it happens. We all want to feel AWESOME, but once you’ve been living a lackluster life for a while, it’s easy to forget that anything better is possible for you.
Let’s not go down that road! When you see the life it leads to, the benefit of Self Care becomes more evident. So…
There are several wonderful ways to deepen your relationship to Self. One is the take care of your (small ‘s’) self — your body and your mind. Another is to spend time alone with the Self through the practice of Meditation. It doesn’t need to be long or strict – there are many ways to begin a practice EASILY.
Here’s a Meditation Audio to get you started…
Click the image below or click HERE.
Recently I made a BIG move in my life — a choice to relocate my family. It was a HUGE undertaking that took a lot of COURAGE on my part (as well as a lot of support from family and friends to make it happen). In the process, I encountered many obstacles — some real, some imagined (LOL!), some planned for and some that completely blind sighted me.
So…I am HERE now.
Or, I was the other day. (Ha ha ha!) But seriously…after the hub-bub of the initial move was over, I found myself feeling misplaced. My whole life had literally been transported and the life I knew — the friends, the places, the things — were gone, and suddenly replaced by new people, places, and things that were unfamiliar and new.
Where was MY place in this all? It was a surreal experience altogether and for more than a hot minute, I questioned my choice and my ability to confidently follow through with my vision for our new life.
What the HELL? I had put so much energy and effort into making this new phase of my life happen and now that it was HERE, part of me wanted to curl up and hide under the covers for a month.
Not the smoothest transition for me, but probably not the worst either. I knew that I wanted to really SHOW UP and make the most of this experience, but I had gotten into some bad habits during the move that were getting in the way of me showing up as my BEST self. Mainly, I was waaaaay out of rhythm.
Ayurveda (EYE-your-VAY-da), the sister science to Yoga, teaches us that when we are out of rhythm, we suffer, and boy is that the truth! During the weeks leading up to and during the move, I was eating at irregular times, staying up late, eating a later, heavier dinner, and not getting up early enough to really start my day right. These might sound like no big deal, and honestly 2 years ago, I might not have thought so either, but after experiencing the EASE that comes from being IN rhythm, being OUT of rhythm was seriously PAINFUL — physically, mentally, and emotionally.
So what to do? First…I knew I had to get REAL here and get HONEST about what wasn’t working. Then, do the hard work of steering back in the right direction. That’s the hard part, though, right? When you find yourself in a position where you’ve already screwed up, sometimes it’s easier to just let it go than do the work of getting back on track. It’s called the “what-the-hell” effect. Ever heard of it?
“The what-the-hell effect is the feeling you get when you’ve already exceeded your preset limit and feel that since you’ve already failed, you might as well fail spectacularly…
…When you miss a goal or exceed a limit, be gentle on yourself. Don’t catastrophize. Armed with this knowledge and awareness, you’ll be able to make better, more informed choices as you move forward.”
It’s a REAL thing!!! You can read more about it in this short article by Eric Ravenscraft at LifeHacker.com HERE.
I’m sure you’ve had your own “what-the-hell” experiences. Sadly, it’s easy to keep going down that path and find yourself way, way off track. That’s how to devolve into a lesser version of yourself over time — NOT my recommendation.
5 Steps to Steer You Back On Track…
What we believe about ourselves creates our daily habits, and our daily habits define us to the world, and then that’s reflected back to us by the people we interact with. So, literally…
It starts with just being HERE — being present with what IS with honesty and self-compassion.
When you sit with WHAT IS, what comes up for you? What’s not working that needs your honest, loving attention? What do you want to be different?
I want to know! Comment below or schedule a time to talk to me HERE.
As Always…
Sacred Space Healing Arts - Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Medicine, Holistic Health, Embodiment, Essential Oils, Bend, Oregon, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 