This morning I was inspired to think about self care. I have a friend that said she is so busy with ‘life’ that she really doesn’t have anywhere in her schedule that she can fit self care. I promptly told her that I believe that if we don’t take the time for our ‘self’, the Universe (or your body or whatever) will make it happen but not in a way we can actually enjoy, ie. you’re sick and stuck in bed for a week.
So what is self care? In a nut shell, I believe it is going within and consciously choosing to be present with yourself, your breath, your actions and acknowledge that you are important. It can be done anywhere and only takes a moment if that is all you have. It can be more, and is more beneficial if you do more, like the ‘conscious actions’ part of it. Consciously doing what makes you feel good and gives you a sense of self worth. I have a number of ways I practice self care. One is by taking the time each morning to practice exercise,s and stretches in particular, that I know are beneficial to my body and make me feel alive and awake. I am a birth doula and one of the tools I have shared with my laboring women is to ‘smell the flowers and blow the bubbles’ as a way to stay with the breath during a contraction. I practice smelling the flowers and blowing the bubbles any time I feel stress arising and it works wonders at keeping me focused and in the moment. Self care can also be as simple as being aware of how you are holding your body. Many times our shoulders begin to tighten and rise closer to our ears as the day goes on; telling our body we are under stress. A practice of tuning in and doing a mental check of our posture can tell us to slide the shoulder blades down our back, tuck our tailbone, pay attention to our breath. We can slowly begin to consciously tune in and calm our sympathetic nervous system to save our health.
In today’s busy world, a lot of people have their sympathetic nervous system in constant alert. That might be the same as never turning your car off and the engine running on high non stop. If our sympathetic nervous system is in constant alert, our adrenal glands are also over worked and excessive amounts of adrenaline are produced, minerals are drained from our body and we become acidic. Acids then drain calcium from our bones and tissues causing a myriad of illnesses including inflammation and osteoporosis. Excessive adrenaline also produces extra insulin that results in hypoglycemia and eventually diabetes. Take CARE of your body and practice self care! Something as simple as stopping and paying attention to your breathing for a few minutes can be enough for the parasympathetic nervous system to engage.
Phew! That was a mouth full and sounds scary! If you love your life, or want to love it more, get in touch with ‘you’ and let your mind, body and spirit know you care. You are important and if you’re a mother there’s an old saying that ‘if mama ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy'(!) and it’s the truth!
Happy trails!