Self-care Practices for Your Mind, Body, and Spirit
How do you check in with your self-care practices on a daily basis? Most of us will only occasionally, after we reach the point of exhaustion, finally decide and give into a self-care moment. This is your wake up call to preventative self-care. It is similar to how we tend to not drink water until our body is crying out in thirst. You’ve waited too long and are dehydrated. Keeping healthy self-care routines sprinkled throughout each day helps in maintaining the much important balance of mind, body, and spiritual well-being.
First we must gently become aware of the wholeness of what self-care actually means. What is our Self? Who are we as people? How intimately do we know ourselves? How much time do we actually allot to putting our attention on our body, our thoughts, and our Spirit to listen to what is really going on? This is a crucial part of self-care. How will we know what we need unless we first assess what aspect of our being needs caring for?
Let’s split self-care into the three areas of mind, body, and spirit just to give us a holistic peek into how to thoroughly care for ourselves. Although each area is completely intimately intertwined, a little attentive focus in one area can support all three.
First we must gently become aware of the wholeness of what self-care actually means. What is our Self? Who are we as people? How intimately do we know ourselves? How much time do we actually allot to putting our attention on our body, our thoughts, and our Spirit to listen to what is really going on? This is a crucial part of self-care. How will we know what we need unless we first assess what aspect of our being needs caring for?
Let’s split self-care into the three areas of mind, body, and spirit just to give us a holistic peek into how to thoroughly care for ourselves. Although each area is completely intimately intertwined, a little attentive focus in one area can support all three.
Mind
Self-care practice #1
Sit back and observe what your mind is thinking.
Many times we avoid our thoughts because they hurt us. It’s as if we tend to dip and dodge them in an attempt to avoid pain. Self-care looks like gently becoming aware of the mind’s thoughts. Then, acknowledge them by just noticing and accepting them. You may say something like, “I see you loneliness, or I feel you anger or fear”. This simple bringing them up and out has the power to transform them because you are showing them love and caring and compassion. From here, you can affirm and change them into healthy thoughts such as, “I am safe, or this too shall pass.”
Sit back and observe what your mind is thinking.
Many times we avoid our thoughts because they hurt us. It’s as if we tend to dip and dodge them in an attempt to avoid pain. Self-care looks like gently becoming aware of the mind’s thoughts. Then, acknowledge them by just noticing and accepting them. You may say something like, “I see you loneliness, or I feel you anger or fear”. This simple bringing them up and out has the power to transform them because you are showing them love and caring and compassion. From here, you can affirm and change them into healthy thoughts such as, “I am safe, or this too shall pass.”
Body
Self-care practice #2
Listen to your body’s messages.
Does this sound too woo-woo for you? How does our body actually speak to us or send us messages? It talks to us in so many ways. Is your heart beating too slow or too fast? Is your breathing shallow or deep? Do your muscles ache or feel tense or relaxed? Are you loose and flexible or tight and stressed? When you scan your body, do you feel shooting pains or dull aches? Do you feel strong and alert, or weak and fatigued? Again, to take care of ourselves, we must first become aware of what areas need cared for. Then we make the correct moves that are guided by our body’s messages. I may schedule a massage or acupuncture. I may need a diagnosis for a pain that I am having and I call to make an appointment. I may just need a hot soak in an Epson salt bath. First, I listen to my body, then I care for it.
Listen to your body’s messages.
Does this sound too woo-woo for you? How does our body actually speak to us or send us messages? It talks to us in so many ways. Is your heart beating too slow or too fast? Is your breathing shallow or deep? Do your muscles ache or feel tense or relaxed? Are you loose and flexible or tight and stressed? When you scan your body, do you feel shooting pains or dull aches? Do you feel strong and alert, or weak and fatigued? Again, to take care of ourselves, we must first become aware of what areas need cared for. Then we make the correct moves that are guided by our body’s messages. I may schedule a massage or acupuncture. I may need a diagnosis for a pain that I am having and I call to make an appointment. I may just need a hot soak in an Epson salt bath. First, I listen to my body, then I care for it.
Spirit
Self-care practice #3
Connect with your Spirit.
How do I connect with my spirit? What is my spirit? Who is my spirit? As you grow in awareness of yourself as a spiritual being, these questions are more easily understood as the essence of who you are. Self-care by connecting to your spirit can come in the ways of moments of prayers, meditation, reading spiritual text, or simply taking a walk in nature. You are nature, because you live and breathe in the natural world, which you are a part of. Getting caught up in the everyday grind takes us away from our spirit, and nature helps us immediately return to and recalibrate ourselves with the rhythms of nature. We experience our spirit as we have spiritual experiences.
A holistic approach to self-care can be an easy way to navigate creating balanced and healthful living. Take dedicated moments, each and every day, to care for your very precious, one and only, Self.
Connect with your Spirit.
How do I connect with my spirit? What is my spirit? Who is my spirit? As you grow in awareness of yourself as a spiritual being, these questions are more easily understood as the essence of who you are. Self-care by connecting to your spirit can come in the ways of moments of prayers, meditation, reading spiritual text, or simply taking a walk in nature. You are nature, because you live and breathe in the natural world, which you are a part of. Getting caught up in the everyday grind takes us away from our spirit, and nature helps us immediately return to and recalibrate ourselves with the rhythms of nature. We experience our spirit as we have spiritual experiences.
A holistic approach to self-care can be an easy way to navigate creating balanced and healthful living. Take dedicated moments, each and every day, to care for your very precious, one and only, Self.
