How is YOUR Self Care?

The idea of self care is something that we hear a lot about in many different ways - it's a rather broad concept & encompasses lots of different things. Most often, we hear about the topic in terms of exercise, sleeping enough & eating well. The self care that I'd like to talk about has a different focus. It's all about listening, looking within, exploring & BEING with YOUR self.

Self care looks different for all of us. Some of us do great in some areas and completely miss others. What's important is that we see where we can develop our own self care & nurture that part self in some way.

One of the parts of self care that I notice many people miss is compassion--not for others but for ourselves. This is one that can be quite challenging. Many of us have a lot of compassion for others, for our friends & loved ones, but not necessarily for ourselves. We often have a lot of judgment & resistance to those parts of ourselves that aren't quite 'good' enough. There can be a lot of beating ourselves up. 'Why did I DO that?, I knew it wasn't right and I did it anyway!' we can ask ourselves and sometimes in a voice we would most likely not use for others (what does YOUR voice sound like?).

When you offer yourself compassion, you stop using that voice. And the compassion isn't self indulgent; it's just...compassionate. When you offer yourself compassion, you're saying 'Let's look at this...Why is this showing up right now? What's it here to teach me?'

This is something that can take some practice (that's why having a coach to help you in the beginning works well :) ). When we offer ourselves compassion, we can step back a bit. We can let go of the judgment. Stepping into the compassion allows you  to accept that quality of yourself and with that acceptance, whatever you were judging, whatever wasn't 'perfect' often gets much weaker; sometimes it disappears.

 
There are plenty of other parts of self care  to discuss, but that's enough for now. How are you doing with the compassion you offer yourself? Do you use that critical, judgmental voice when you do something that is less than perfect? What would it be like to be curious instead - to use the voice of curiosity & discovery? Why don't you give it a try this week and see what happens...

<p>Image: <a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net" target="_blank">FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></p>

The squeals of childhood

Have you seen or heard a kid squeal lately? There are lots of things that might make a child squeal - could be a fun game, or splashing in a pool or bouncing high on a trampoline... The list is really endless.

And now I have another question for you. Do you remember when YOU were a kid and you did something sooooooooo wonderful that you just had to squeal?? What was it that made you squeal as a child? Do you remember? I know I squealed in the ocean. It was such a treat and it felt so exciting and free. I also remembering squealing on rollercoasters... Otherwise, I think I missed out on squealing. I was always afraid of sticking out too much.

I got the urge the other day for that kind of squeal. I had told a friend of mine that the roller-coaster at the Boardwalk was calling me and that I thought it would fulfill the need for the child-like squeal. I hadn't ridden a rollercoaster in YEARS. She called one day and said she had an hour in between errands and wondered if she could come and pick me up so we could go for a rollercoaster ride. I was in the middle of writing an article and felt like a break would help me move through my current writing standstill. So if I hesitated at all, it was a nano-second.

She came, picked me up, drove us to the boardwalk, parked the car, we bought tickets, stood in line for about 5 minutes and then squealed for a few more minutes on the ride. The energy around me felt limitless for those few minutes.

When I got home, I felt energized, open and creative. It brought me to a space that we don't always allow ourselves to be in out in the world - where we can just express total joy and/or excitement that bubbles up in us uncontrollably. Giving myself the opportunity to do that was like giving myself a little energy kick and totally changed the space around the writing that I was doing.

So, I invite you to think back and see what things come to mind from your childhood? When did you experience such joy that it was impossible to contain it? And what could you do today (ok, I'll cut you some slack - today or tomorrow :) ) that would allow you to tap into those feelings (whether you remember them from your childhood or not)? Maybe you need a kick of energy or want to change the space your in or just want to feel that child-like excitement and joy. I can highly recommend a rollercoaster!

<p>Image: <a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net" target="_blank">FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></p>