Simplifying Self-Care

I've got a question for you, lovelies...

How well do you look after yourself?

A simple question but it’s surprising how many women see self-care as ‘just another job on their to-do list’. Something that's supposed to make us feel BETTER often makes us feel stressed out, overwhelmed, and out of control.

But here's the thing…

Self-care is all about relaxation and rejuvenation.

It’s about adding more pleasurable activities to your life. And what YOU find pleasurable isn’t necessary what everyone else finds pleasurable, which is perfectly okay.

If there's nothing more you love than just having some me-time, spending time with yourself at home, reading a good book or baking cookies, or relaxing in a long hot bath, then that would be the perfect thing to make space for in your life.

Maybe going out and spending quality time with good friends is what you love to do. If so, organising  a date with your besties would be the perfect way to practice self-care.

Just remember, there’s no right or wrong way to practice self-care.

You just need to figure out what’s going to be best for you and then build more of those activities into your life on a consistent basis.

So before we break it down into the actual activities you can do to take care of your body, mind and spirit, I want to say a quick word about self-love…

If you don’t love yourself enough, you’re never going to prioritise self-care. So please know this... YOU are worthy of taking good care of yourself.

Once you become willing to extend love and compassion to yourself, life changes in mysterious and beautiful ways.

You’ll find your heart softens and you come to know your own goodness. You open yourself up to a divine intelligence that guides your life with signs and synchronicities.

And because you feel so much better, you attract more grace and abundance into your life.

So here are three questions to ask yourself to figure out the small acts of self-care that would work for you.

1. What kind of activities do you find most relaxing? (Or in other words, how do you enjoy to ‘slow down’?)
2. What  kind of activities do you find most invigorating? (What do you do to refresh and renew your energy levels?)
3. What kind of activities do you find most pleasurable? (What are the things you enjoy more than anything else?)

And that, my friend, is self-care in a nutshell: the things you find relaxing, the things you find invigorating, and the things you find pleasurable.

Apply that to yourself - body, mind, and soul. And once you know the answers to those three questions, you can easily build more acts of self-care into your daily life.

Invitation for Today:

Make a list of small acts of self-care that will work for you, and then break it down into relaxing activities, invigorating activities, and pleasurable activities.

Keep this list handy.

Put it on your bedside table, next to your laptop or on your fridge so that it serves as a reminder to take regular breaks and do something that will serve you - body, mind and soul.

SOME IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED....

(Just remember that everyone is different - so your list might not look anything like MY list. You have to come up with something that is unique to you...)

Relaxing Self-care Activities:

So let’s start with relaxing self-care activities, and apply it to your body, mind and soul.

Body: How do you relax your body? You can give yourself a foot massage, or do a stretching routine, or do a belly breathing exercise, or take a long bath with relaxing essential oils such as lavender.

Mind: How do you relax your mind? By taking a break from technology, or doing a few minutes of meditation, or doodling, or colouring in - or how about knitting? That’s such a relaxing thing to do.

Soul: And then, how do you relax your soul? Perhaps you can try an activity like meditative prayer, or choosing words that make you feel peaceful and repeating it like a mantra, or writing in your gratitude journal.

Invigorating Self-care Activities:

So that brings us to the second question, which is what kind of invigorating activities can you do?

Body: Invigorating activities for your body could be any kind of movement, ike walking the dog, or dancing in your bedroom, or playing with a ball in the backyard, or going to the gym.

Mind: How do you rejuvenate and stimulate your mind? Perhaps you can play word games, or research something that you’re really interested in, or you can immerse yourself into revitalizing colours like yellow and orange, or disperse essential oils that are refreshing and uplifting such as ginger and grapefruit and lemongrass and spearmint (to name a few).

Soul: Lastly, how can you rejuvenate your soul? One way is to sing, or perhaps just to listen to uplifting music. Or maybe you can play with crystals that inspire you, and set fresh intentions for your life.

Pleasurable Self-care Activities:

Lastly, ask yourself what you find pleasurable.

Body: What are the activities that make your body feel awesome? That might be something like giving yourself a facial. Or just having a self-pampering spa day at home where you indulge in some dry brushing and anointing your body with essential oils.

Mind: And then think about enjoyable activities for your mind, which can be anything from reading inspirational texts to building a puzzle.

Soul: And finally let’s look at activities that you find pleasurable on a deep soul level. And that can be anything from creating sacred space, and creating rituals with candles and sage or a soul art project, which is something that we do regularly in the Soulwoman Circles.

So I hope you can see that when you break self-care down into what you find relaxing, and what you find invigorating, and what you find pleasurable, and then look at activities in each of those categories in the context of body, mind and soul, it’s easy to come up with small acts that will make you feel so much better from day to day. And that is the ultimate goal of self-care - for you to become a happier you.

Download your gift eBook: Simplifying Self-care

So I’m going to leave it at that for today. I hope you’ve got lots of ideas that you can put on your personal self-care list. And I would love for you to tell us how your self-care is going so we can encourage and inspire you, and also be encouraged and inspired by you.

You can tag us on social media using #selfcareforthesoul or #soulwomancircles so we can find you, and of course we will see you in the Self-care for the Soul group on Facebook.

So big love from my heart to yours...

Mia xo