I don’t know about you, but loving myself hasn’t come easy.
My mom passed away when I was 10. I remember her cooking, cleaning, taking my sister and me, places and going to work. What I don’t recall are times when she took care of herself, when she really nurtured her body, mind, and spirit.
This has had a huge impact on my life. I never learned how to properly nurture my being as a child. Quite the contrary. What I did learn was that working hard and putting in a ton of effort was the way to get what you wanted. From my experience, this level of doing-ness doesn’t create space for joy. I might be able to check things off my “To Do” list, but I don’t feel fulfilled on the inside.
Over the years I learned that always going outside myself to nurture me was not what worked. What did work was turning that outward focus inward. While this was not natural and certainly wasn’t easy, it was what ultimately helped me get on the road to loving myself more and more.
Now that I’m a mom with two daughters of my own, it’s super important for me to show them that taking care of one’s self is primary and that all else stems from here. Self-care is an important aspect of self-love. If we aren’t able to take the time for proper self-care, how can we expect our children to be able to do this?
Here are three self-healing tips to help you incorporate self-care into your daily regimen.
- Ask yourself, “What do I need?” When you notice that you’re feeling irritated or somehow out-of-sorts, check in with yourself. Literally, ask yourself, “What do I need?” Maybe you’re hungry or thirsty, other times you might need a few minutes to yourself to connect inward. And still other times maybe you’ve been sitting too long and need to move your body.
- Focus on your breath. At least once a day spend a few moments focusing on your breath, breathing in and breathing out. You can tell so much about how you’re doing from your breath alone.
- Rest when you’re tired. If you’re feeling drained during the day, take a few minutes to rest. Close your eyes and breathe. Try turning off your electronics (or at least put them on airplane mode) an hour before you go to sleep. Give yourself time to slow down before you get into bed at night.
I invite you to take multiple opportunities daily for self-care. To me, this is a prerequisite for true self-love and paves the way for more joy in your life.
Please share this with your family and friends and leave a comment below to let me know your favorite self-care strategies.
PS: To help you in your self-care routine I have a couple of FREE CHAKRA MEDITATIONS for your self-love rituals.
