The Language of Self Care
How are you taking care of yourself these days? The idea of Self Care seems to have caught on and become quite popular these days; though more and more I hear people expressing the belief that they aren't doing self care well. Which kind of proves that they're right.
As we all lurch headlong into the fury of the holiday season, self care should be high on our list of priorities. We all need to manage so much stress, heightened expectations, awkward relationships, and deeply painful losses. We just can't do any of that well if we aren't paying attention to our needs, our rhythms, our hopes and desires. In short, we need to exercise self care if we are going to survive the days ahead.
But what does self care really mean? And what does it mean when we constantly tell ourselves (and those around us) that we aren't very good at self care?
When we tell ourselves what we aren't accomplishing, we only feed our doubts and insecurities. Self care is not just taking a day off work to enjoy family time or making an appointment for a massage to soothe the physical aches away. Self care starts with the way we talk to ourself.
Are we kind and compassionate toward ourself? Or do we focus on our failings and fumbles? Do we make a mental note of it each time we achieve a goal or stop ourselves from doing something we would have regretted later? Or is our inner dialogue focused on critique and criticism? What comes to mind first when we look at ourselves in a mirror, proverbial or real?
In his TEDx Talk, Josh Green suggests that Those voices in your head are not yours while the TEDEd video explains how important those voices are to our own health and well being.
If we truly want to embrace self care, we don't have to schedule special time for it or purchase any particular equipment. What we must do instead is to leave behind the negative self talk and start saying nice things about ourselves to ourselves. When we applaud ourselves for our self care, then we are doing it right!
Namaste,
Barbara Lee VanHorssen
Experi-Mentor
barbara@momentumcentergh.org
