Friday 8 November 2013

Making Self Care a Priority

http://static.lululemon.com/_images/community/yoga-for-cycling/image5.jpg"When was the last time you were gentle with yourself?"

This is a question I was asked last week and it really made me think. We are sometimes so hard on ourselves and forget to be gentle and treat ourselves with kindness and compassion.

It's okay to make mistakes. Its okay to breakdown. Its okay to ask for help. Its okay to not be on top of things all the time. 

Being ambitious doesn't mean we have to be serious or overly critical of ourselves. In fact, being self-compassionate is the way to stay balanced when we have a lot going on in our lives.

Taking the time to ask ourselves, "What do I need right now?" "Not what others want of me, not what I think I "should" do, but what I need."  

When we have the compassion to take care of ourselves first, we are in the best position to help others.

Self care includes a huge range of practices from engaging in physically activity and eating wholesome meals to creating a support network and knowing when to reach out and ask for help.

Self care means knowing what we need at a given time.

At different times, we need different things. 

That is why it is so important that we know ourselves and really listen to our body and intuition. Our body will tell us what we need.

Nobody knows our body the way we each know our own. After all, we are the one living in it!

"Know thyself." (Socrates)

There is time to rest and time to engage, time for ourselves and times to connect with ourselves. At the end of the day, we realize that life is a balancing act.

I have found through my own experience that yoga and meditation are great ways to create balance in our lives- they are practices that force us to go inwards, using our breath to bring us to the present moment. They are ways to become aware and connect with our needs, as we learn to become our own best friend in the process.

There are so many ways we can take care of ourselves and each one of us is different. Different things work for different people. So again, knowing ourselves is really the key. I find that the better I know myself through time and experience, the better I am able to define what I want and need.

Through experience and awareness we learn. And while we do, let us also learn to treat ourselves with gentle compassion.

Blessings,

Julie



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