You can't expect to get anywhere far without a full tank of fuel What is Self-Care and why is it important? Self-care is the regular practice of activities that reduce stress and maintain and enhance health overall wellbeing. The importance of self-care is all in the benefits:
Working yourself to Exhaustion is just not sustainableDon't get me wrong, hard work is essential if you want to get anything done and do it well BUT, you can't go on forever. You need sleep, you need good food, you need joy and fun, you need friends and family and you need time to rest and relax. If you never give yourself a break, then burning out is inevitable and you can trust me on this one. By learning to say YES and NO when it is true to you, you will empower yourself as an individual and you will invite happiness into your life. I am a classic burnout-aholicDare to Ignite is my life. I have such a brilliant vision for the future, I know what I want to achieve and I can clearly see the life that I want to live in, but I do tend to get over involved in trying to make this happen. I have worked for months on end, with barely a drink out with friends or a quiet evening without my laptop and my notepad and pen, writing down my ideas, dreaming, contacting people in business, blogging, researching, all for my vision. This is great and I love my own determination but I forget too easily how important play and fun is, I forget how important and nice a quiet evening just vegging out is for your spirit. Ultimately I burn out, everytime! After I am burnt to a crisp these are the symptoms that follow:
What you can do to avoid burnoutIf you experience any of these symptoms or if you feel you regularily burnout to extremes then SELF-CARE is a great way to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back into living a life that you absolutley love! Self-care is very unique and individual according your personal needs but here are a few ideas to get you started:
Your self-care plan is all yoursYour self-care plan is completely up to you. You choose what you do and when and where. It is recommended that you try to practice looking after yourself daily. Mix it up and try something different everyday. Also, try to remember that it is all about what is best for you, if you make plans to hang out with friends but on the day you are not feeling 100%, it is ok for you to say no. By learning to say YES and NO when it is true to you, you will empower yourself as an individual and you will invite happiness into your life.
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Uncertainty, self-doubt, blocking your intuition or whatever you want to call it, we have all been there and I am here today to tell you that I, like many others, experience self-doubt on a daily basis. Self-doubt is one of the major obstacles to living the life you truly deserve. This unhealthy food for the soul drags down your spirit, crushes your ambitions, and prevents you from achieving what you desire It is a difficult place to live in, modern society, with so many opinions and marketing advertisiments being presented to us hourly, it is hard sometimes to discern what voice in our head is actually ours. Not only is there a lot of information bombarding us, but there is also a lot of fear based content that we are confronted with daily. Fear is very distracting from the truth. Fear is a mechanism that distorts your reality, by means of highly charging your emotions; fear can create cruel, demeaning and/or delusional content that you replay in your mind endlessly; fear can create a need in your mind to focus on the future or the past, you may always be reflecting on past traumas and reliving and repressing them daily; fear feels restrictive or like a shrinking sensation throughout your being. I am here to tell you that I, like many others, experience this on a daily basis I am a very fearful person at this time in my life. I am afraid of confrontation, I am afraid of not being good enough and I am afraid of failing. I have so many triggers around these foundational fears that I am constantly looking to hide myself and I retreat into my shell often. Shape shifting Safety ShellEveryone has a saftey shell; a safety shell is a place - that doesn't necessarily have to be a room with solid walls - where when feeling threatened or not safe, that one can retreat into, where one does feel safe. For example my shell can be crossing my arms and legs, putting on a hat or sunglasses or lifting my hoodie over my head. I frequently put my headphones in to block out the world and to retreat into my own world. I also hold back my tears frequently, often crying quietly or just repressing my emotions as much as possible; this is also a form of a safety shell. It's a scary thing for me to think of how many repressed tears I have and how much I need to let out emotionally. Oh, I just thought of another fear, I am afraid of being a burden on others and that I can't do this on my own. Whenever I am feeling sad or unstable I will become very unsocial so I can retreat to a place where no one will be burdened by my problems and emotions. Punch line 1: Never think that you have to do this aloneYou don't have to do this alone. It has taken me way too long to even become aware of this and I am still learning how to incorporate a practice into my life, where I actively acknowledge that I can ask people for help or support or a shoulder to cry on. Not only do I have to recognise that I am afraid of burdening someone, but I become very anxious when confronted with the idea of being rejected. You don't have to do this alone, but it is o.k. if someone doesn't want to help you. Do not be discouraged by someone else exercising their free will. Punch Line 2: You have everything you need, just look withinMay I repeat, I am no guru as you can see from all of the fears I have admitted to you, so who am I to preach any of this to you? If I sound like I am preaching I apolagize, I only mean to share my experiences and lessons. However, many masters, sensei's, guru's and enlightened beings all say 'just look within and you will find your answer'. From my very basic understanding, I have learnt that I can alleviate my fears if I do just this. Meditating or practicing deep breathing is very helpful for me to clear my mind and find stillness. Sometimes, depending on my level of anxiety, this may take a long time, other times I might only need to breath deeply for a minute or so. The goal of deep breathing in this case, is to focus completely on the sensations of your breath, moving in and out of your body. If any thoughts come up, negative or positive, I focus on watching them pass by like clouds above my head and then I return my attention back to my breath and the sensations my breathing brings to my body. If you feel any emotions do not repress them or push them away. Go to the space in your body where you are feeling this emotion and simply let the emotion play out. Be curious and feel all of it, you may cry or laugh or shudder, whatever it is you need to do to feel your emotions make sure that you feel them and do not lock them away; they always come out eventually. Free your mind from fear and Self Doubt will Fade AwayWithout any fear over your head, then there is nothing there to fuel your mind in doubting your ability? Without fear, what is stopping you from living your truth? Once I have cleared my mind of all of my thoughts, my fears and my anxieties, once I have found a wide open space in my mind, that is when I feel ready to inquire into the answers that I am seeking in my life. It has been said, that if you regularly clear your mind from your fears, then you are more likely able to hear your inner intuition. You can more easily make good desicions because you can see reality clearly for what it is. That Gut Feeling: Discerning between intuition and FearSometimes it is hard to tell the difference, is it our intuition or it is our fear that is guiding us? In negative situations you will still have that gut feeling telling you that you should leave a particular space or that someone might not have the best intentions for you. But how can you tell in these not so obviously bad situations if you are doubting your ability or if it is your intuition guiding you?
Below is a diagram that you can refer to if you are ever unsure in these cases. If you have been following my previous "A Golden Morning" blog's we left off at tongue scraping. Sounds interesting I know, but if you'd like to find out more click this link. The next practice that I brought into my morning routine is drinking some warm lemon tea. If Tongue scraping is in your routine, then I would always scrape my tongue first, before ingesting anything because we are trying to spit out the toxins not swallow them. Plus, to get the most out of your lemon tea, you want as little toxins in your mouth as possible, so you can detox other parts of your body too. Benefits of drinking Warm Lemon water1. Warm Water Aids Digestion Not even getting to the lemon yet, warm water first thing in the morning helps get the digestive system moving by giving it a helpful flush and hydrates your body after your 6-8 hour sleep. Do you drink water while your sleeping? I thought not. You can even try to have 2-3 glasses of water first thing in the morning to start your day. You might notice increased energy levels and clarity. 2. Immune System Boost! Lemon's contain Vitamin C which is a great immune system strengthener and also good for the adrenals which can help with reducing stress. Have some lemon water in the morning to absorb these nutrients first to kick start your day, without fear of cold's or stress at work. 3. Lemon Water Increases Your Metabolism By starting your digestive system with some warm water with lemon juice, you are giving your metabolism a great start, this is a great small change you can add to your weight loss or weight management lifestyle. 4. Healthier Looking Skin If you regularly start you day off by drinking wamr water with lemon juice, your digestive system will start to run smoother your body will naturally support healthier and clearer skin. Plus you're getting healthy dosage of Vitamin C every morning which is needed for collagen production. How to startLike I said , I always have a glass of water and some warm lemon tea first thing after I have scraped my tongue of the previous nights toxins. If you're not used to drinking water first thing in the morning, then a lot of water too quickly can give you some nausea, so I would recommend starting slow with maybe just one glass of water and increase your water intake during the day.
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AuthorMy name is Brittney and my life pursuit has been that of self-improvement and growth. It took me a long time to realize that I don't really fit into societies model that you need to go to school, find a career, strive to be extremely succesful to then get married and have kids, ever acquiring material objects. There is nothing wrong with this model at all and for those who can embrace this with whole-hearted happiness, keep going with it. Archives
August 2017
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