DAY THREE: Self-Care is for My Loved Ones
Good morning. Who is the most important person in your child’s life? Right! You are! You are worth focusing on. If these exercises are bringing up some conditioning that you should not be this “selfish” or it is not right to focus on yourself, I invite you to honor those feelings.
INTENTION: Allow whatever feelings you have about self-care to come to the surface of your consciousness. Simply sit down and allow them to express themselves. Pull out your Self-Care Notebook, and write about how you feel about self-care and self-love.
EXERCISE: Write what self-care activities you do or could imagine doing that you feel gratitude for, in your Gratitude Notebook, right before you go to bed.
Once you feel complete, thank those feelings for surfacing and allowing themselves to be heard. These are the thoughts that have worked so hard in the background to ensure you survived to the next day. They had an important purpose. Somewhere along your life someone or several someones who cared very deeply about your survival told you not to focus on yourself. Love them for caring so deeply. And now we will release our belief that to focus on ourselves first is “selfish”. Are you ready to let it go?
There are several leaders I will turn to for guidance. This morning I am turning to Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31) I believe it is a spiritual law that you cannot love someone else other than how you are loving yourself. So, it all starts with us.
SUMMARY of self-care routine so far:
- When you get up in the morning, check in with your body and ask, “What do you need from me today?” Listen, then write in you Self-Care Notebook, and follow the guidance you receive.
- Notice 5 positive things happening in your day. Write about them tonight before going to bed in your Gratitude Notebook.
- If there is resistance to following through on focusing on you, write about it in your Self-Care Notebook.
EXERCISE: This is how resourced your Inner Well might be, if you have started more self-care. Draw a picture of your Inner Well at the bottom of the page on your Self-Care notebook. How full is your inner well now compared to the first day?
