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There is nothing selfish about self-care. Self-care is a foundation of community-care and a form of community-care. By allowing space for our own healing and care, we support community’s healing and care. We all are interconnected.
What are some ways to find self-care practices that are supportive for you?
-Checking in. Noticing how you are right now. How’s your body, your heart, your mind?
-Allowing space for the feelings, the sensations, and states that are present in the body, heart, and mind.
-Noticing if the feelings, sensations, and states feel familiar to you. Have you felt this way before? When have you felt this way before?
-If you have felt this way before, what have you done in the past that has been supportive and what have you done that hasn’t been supportive?
-What can you do right now to support feeling taken care of and nourished?
Engaging in this type of mindful reflection practice can allow space for you to honor your current state and offer yourself care that will support your current needs. This is a way of offering the care that the body, the heart, the mind, the spirit is asking for and will most benefit from rather than allowing an external source to guide your own care.
Be aware of when judgment takes space in this reflection process or in your self-care activities too and see if there’s space to relinquish that judgment and allow care to take whatever form feels most resonant in the current moment. Care can take many forms. Resting is care too.
In case challenging or difficult emotions arise during this process, it may be helpful to engage in a self-compassion practice if that feels of support. Here are phrases that resonate with me from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh:
Self-care can take a lot of forms ie. being outdoors, exercise, stillness, music, creativity, connecting with loved ones, cooking, comedies, resting a palm on your belly and chest noticing your breath, etc. Find works best for you in each moment.
When you take care, you support the care of others as well. That care radiates out and a collective care begins to form. Thank you for all the ways you’ve taken care of you, of us.
—Lissa E.
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