productivity

Self Care

Hey there :)

So funny story, it took me until the other day when I posted something about Self Care that I realized I have not actually written a blog on Self Care.

This is a bit unusual because I talk about it all the time - it is the tiny soap box I stand on and wave my hands around… and in typing that statement I just had an ah ha! moment after realizing that I just started my sound-healing-only-instagram after 15 years… so I suppose I am late on a few important things.

Better late than never!

*starts to judge self and then immediately soaks self in forgiveness and patience for beginning so late*

Phew! Anyways!

I’ve written blogs on Self Inquiry and Energetic Hygiene and other topics related to self care, but never solely on self care. So here we are! I hope you enjoy :)

Why is Self Care so important?

I’m glad you asked.

Gracious receiving gives dignity to the act of giving

Imagine being so excited to give someone a gift it feels like your ‘tail’ is wagging. Imagine feeling the difference between their two possible reactions: 1. “oh my god thank you so much I’ve been looking for one of these forever!!!” 2. “oh thanks.” What did your energy do when you read the first statement vs the second? Perhaps it felt like your heart opened on the first statement, or you felt energized or loved or even just smiled; and then perhaps your energy or heart may have drooped a bit on the second statement.

Now imagine them giving a gift to you and you receiving their gift with the same enthusiasm from statement 1. This is the best way to receive all gifts whether it be monetary, physically like a hug, or energetic like gratitude.

Why? You might ask.

Because:

Gracious receiving gives dignity to the act of giving

When we give and receive in equal measure our heart chakra becomes balanced. If you put your arms out to your sides in a ‘T’ shape you’ll notice the arms are in the ~ zone ~ of the Heart Chakra. The Heart Chakra has to do with the love, mercy, kindness and compassion we give and offer to others - but also the love, mercy, kindness and compassion we give to OURSELVES!

It is just as important to be nice to yourself as it is to other people. You are a worthy and deserving being! You’ve been through a lot and you’re trying your best!

Honestly it’s hard to remember this and I totally get it - one of the best phrases that was ever shared with me - credited to my dearly departed Tif - was “you parent yourself the way your parents did, when you are stressed out.” That statement whacked me in the head and landed hard in my heart: I’m a relatively easy going person… but in the past, when I was stressed, my brain chatter was constant judgement and inner critic.

Why am I talking all about this in a blog about Self Care? Well, when you think about Self Care, it’s about caring about yourself. If your parents weren’t super supportive then that is the tone of the inner voice you have in your head under stress. Gently trying to switch that inner critic to the inner coach is super beneficial. Constantly judging, nitpicking, comparing, putting yourself down probably hasn’t helped you in the past, so maybe it’s time to try a new way!

Self care covers a wide range of topics

Self Care can be being gentle to yourself. It can be reminding yourself not to beat yourself up over little things. It can be physical like drinking water or working out. It can be mental like writing a to-do list of silly tasks just so your brain gets dopamine once you check them off…

If you are an human in today’s society you’re probably a bit stressed. I invite you (mmmmaybe perhaps urge you) to put Self Care at the top of your daily to-do list. Between expectations of peers, colleagues and family; social media trying its best to harvest and monetize your attention (yuck!) and not-so-great-news being on the news all the time it’s important to stay aligned, grounded, true to yourself & healthy - whatever that means for you.

If you’ve found me for healing services then you might be considered a Highly Sensitive person / empath / light worker, and if so, it is paramount to our own healing journey to Self Care, especially if we are sharing our talents with others in a healing space. We can pick up energy from other people and we want to make sure we don’t continue to carry that energy around.

We live in a time we have to be connected at all times, we live in a time that we have talked and connected with more people this year alone than in the entire lives of people back then. How crazy to think about? I would wager a guess that we see / interact with more people in a month (in person and social media) than our ancestors saw in a lifetime?!

Because of this we desperately need to take care of ourselves.

So, what does Self Care look like?

In the past I have not had the best habits i.e. food and alcohol, and it was hard for me to get out of those habits - so one of the very first things that I taught myself to do was to marry a bad habit with a good one. Am I going to eat that bag of Doritos? Yes… AND! Now I have to eat an apple first. If you try to cut everything that’s unhealthy it miiiight not work, and this is because these unhealthy habits also moonlight as coping skills. Sometimes we do need a day to do nothing, so take it, you deserve it, and then the next day maybe you notice you’re 4x as productive! (Ps: these stories are all autobiographical ;)

It’s all about balance!

Self Care is so much fun because there’s so many options to chose from! Here are some ideas for you:

Self care ideas from my heart to yours

Physical

  • Workout - it’s no joke that working out helps stimulate happy neurotransmitters in your body to make your brain happier

  • Hydrate - drink water! This is one of the simplest things that makes the biggest difference.

  • Massage (or Acupuncture etc etc) - supports flow in the body. Movement = flow = health.

  • Cold plunge - creates more of a dopamine hit then cocaine!

  • Infrared Sauna - because it can penetrate the skin to help your cells detox

  • Hiking - my favorite activity

  • Nature - nature is my #1 self care to bring me back in alignment to myself

  • Fasting - intermittently, and every once and awhile 4-7 days because I love all the health benefits you get from it.

  • Sobriety - I’ve been sober for 10 months now and will write about this soon

  • Dancing! I love a good Kevin-Bacon-Footloose-Dance-Explosion!

  • Literally anything physical that makes you feel awesome… even sex!

Energetic

  • Set boundaries with parents / friends / whomever

  • Saying “no” without explaining yourself

  • Salt bath - salt has “green” energy according so certain color therapy modalities which is cleansing & dissolving

  • Energy / sound healing sessions of course ;)

  • “Cutting” cords - to bring back your energy from others

  • Manifesting / vision board to awake dreams into life / keep you on track with your goals

  • Do something new even if you scares you - I can’t stress this one enough. This is truly how I live my life and my life has been a grand adventure because of it.

  • Anything that makes your heart soar, you feel satisfaction & pride in yourself, anything that increases your mana ;)

Mental

  • Allow work to end when you punch out

  • Write down to-do list per day or week, check things off no matter how trivial they seem trains your brain to be proud of yourself (sometimes I make a list and check off: coffee walk, journal, set intentions)

  • Set phone hours like working hours - phone goes on airplane at 6p and off airplane at 6am

  • Read - anything: magazines, comic books, fiction, non fiction, just the act of focusing and reading and enjoying

  • Allow quiet time

  • Journal your intentions

  • Anything that helps you dive into something so deep you find the mind has accidentally quieted itself… even rabbit holes ;)

Spiritual

  • Carving time out of your day for yourself i.e. solo time

  • Meditate

  • Connect with nature

  • Start cultivating a true “You” practice, doing breathwork, learning about mindfulness, think of it like a gift to yourself

  • Anything that brings you back home to yourself, in alignment with your truth and your wild authenticity

Stay in touch!

I would love to hear how this blog helped, inspired or just re-aligned you back on your path toward Self Care!

Don’t hesitate to reach out, comment like or share <3

Falling into the Trap of Productivity

…is a trap I know too well! “I am only worth something if I produce something,” “I haven’t done anything lately,” “I am so lazy, worthless…” “My friends will only like me if I show up for them constantly.” blah blah blah

YOU are a divine human BEING, not a human doing. You are allowed days of rest, days in bed, and especially skipping days of work or cancelling clients if you are not feeling up to it! Your chores and work is always waiting for you - but that special moment, concert, sunset, festival, travel option might not appear again. The more you show up for yourself, the more you have room in your heart to show up for others!! Do not give from an empty cup!

For me, the New Moon in Capricorn that we experienced a few weeks ago, brought up a lot of vulnerability, old feelings of not feeling worthy, overexposed, overwhelmed, and not feeling like I was doing / producing enough. For example - my goal this year was to try and create newsletters every month, but what I came to realize was I can only write and send newsletters when they feel 100% authentic. I can only pour out my complete and raw truth, and if I don’t have anything to share in that moment, it feels fake and false to send something that is not 100% from my heart and soul. I shared these sentiments with some friends a few weeks ago they sighed loudly with their hands over their hearts saying “THANK YOU! I have felt this exact same way for weeks!!”

Lately, in my sessions, I have noticed that I have been tuning a lot of right shoulders / heart - boundaries, left hips - unmet needs, and high hearts - your wings & feeling free to be yourself, to express yourself, to be seen… You are allowed to be seen for exactly who you are - a perfectly imperfect being who is doing their best.

I, myself, am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions. ~ Augusten Burroughs

I’ve talked about this to my clients, and to be honest I’ve had to have this talk with myself… follow me on this thought experiment: the fact that we’re here, living and breathing on this beautiful planet with this incredible nature and amazing sunsets and fantastic friends - is ridiculous and impossible.

How can this be? We happen to be born on this amazing rock floating through this vast space with other magical celestial bodies; the rock that we’re travelling on happens to have the perfect ratio of oxygen for us to breath, the most excellent amount of water for us to swim and even different temperatures for all needs?! We all have a favorite animal, color, crystal and flower from this rock. We all remember a perfect sunset, an epic day and a lover or friend who changed our lives forever. The possibility of having all of this good luck in a ‘vacuum’ seems to me, very low. And yet, here we are, having belly laughs that are so great and boisterous that they hurt, seeing something so beautiful that we cry, experiencing something that moves in such a way it changes our lives forever.

In my thought-experiment-opinion - none of us should be here, yet we are. None of us should be so lucky, but we are.

SO…

What if… because none of those things are probable or possible, and yet they are our reality… What if … anything is possible? What if everything is possible?

:)

So relax into being and relax into breathing. Breathe into being and breathe into relaxing.

Allow your mind to fill your body with consciousness, awareness, presence and peace - allowing for space and expansion in the vastness of yourself.

You are exactly where you should be, having the experience you are having in order for your soul’s next greatest evolution. You are home and you belong here.

<3 <3 <3