Dear friends,
I was talking with a friend in crisis this weekend and the topic of Radical Self Care came up.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Definition of SELF-CARE
: care for oneself : self-treatment
According to
Psychology Dictionary: What is SELF-CARE? definition of SELF-CARE (Psychology Dictionary)
What is SELF-CARE?
These are our daily activities in looking after ourselves. The process of looking after one’s self. Avoiding all threats and issues that may make a person face irritable and uncomfortable circumstances.
What does radical self-care mean to you?
To me it’s about:
- Sleep – getting my 7 1/2 to 8 hours starting at 10pm
- Waking before the sunrises to say my prayers & have me time
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Morning pages/blogging
- Clean Eating (for me AIP works great)
- FlyLady routines
- Tea breaks
- Hot baths with Epsom salts and lavender oil
- Daily exercise
- A great support system
- InterPlay
Here’s a great way to map it out:
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| A great tool from Social Work Tech |
What’s your favorite Self-care tool? I’d love to know!
Wrapping you around with infinite love and care,
Christine
P.S. Lot’s of messages coming in about self-care…found this on one of my favorite Facebook groups (Inner Allies) this morning:
Always on my list of things to do more of.
I believe exquisite self-care is essential to thriving. You've got a wonderful list of things that support you – way to go Christine! Flower essences are a big part of my own practice, as well as aromatherapy.
This is a great reminder for me to take more time for self care. I need to slow down a bit first though. Love your list!
I used to think that self-care wasn't important, that I could just keep going, going, going and caring, caring, caring for everyone else but myself. I've found that it is really helpful to me to blog and to just involve my brain and to just give myself grace. I am way harder on myself than I would ever be on anyone else and I need to be gentle with myself.
Yahoooo Sabra!
Ooooh Deborah I love aromatherapy and know a little about flower essences but would love to learn more.
Isn't that always the challenge Sue! Me too. In order to get it all in 5:30 am is my ideal wake up time but some days that is not possible!!
Me too Melissa until my body broke down and screamed, "If you don't take care of yourself I will stop!" I'm a slow learner but I'm starting to get it 😉
My favorite self-care technique is to meditate with emotional mindfulness. As I breathe, connecting with my body, I deepen into how I am feeling at that very moment, the emotional energy within me. This helps me accept myself and everything I feel so I don't stuff emotions away. It has made my life so much richer.
Great Map you posted to remind us to keep the balance. I do a lot of self-care but when I look at it in this context, I realize I am off balance and need to work on the body (get more sleep and more physical activity).
Thanks for the link. I am going to try my hand at being creative and add some color to my Self-Care Map.