Make Self Care A Guiding Principle In Your Life

In the first 2 posts we went over concepts such as:  where you are right now is the right time to begin learning that Happiness Is A Skill.  We considered that breathing slowly in and out will always bring you back to center and that the only person you can control is yourself, which includes the way you choose to respond to things in your life.  We also went over the basics of how to meditate, which you may want to review.  It’s all about practice!

For this post, let’s look at choosing self care as a guiding principle in our life.  This is about living as though you value yourself as much as you value others.  The idea here is that by looking out for our own wellbeing first, we will be the best that we can be.  From that point, we have more to contribute to those around us as well as the world in general.  There’s more smiling, more patience, more active caring.  Imagine everyone bringing that to their everyday.  That would be a powerful force for good at large in the world!

If everyone adopted this as a guiding principle in their lives, it would look like this:  time for oneself would be honored and accepted as normal.  Time to be quiet and breathe, time to exercise, time to laugh and smile because of doing things that bring pleasure and joy.  As a culture that would mean more balance in each individual life, i.e. equal time for self, work, giving to family and loved ones.  It begins with each one of us honoring and living this idea, and then the ripple effect takes over.  One person shares what their doing with someone and that person brings it into their lives, and so on.  Then we begin to feel the shift of more people slowing down, practicing Happiness Skills and truly making our world a more pleasant place to live each day.

How do you make this a reality in your life?  Start with this, make a list of 3 – 5 things that you believe would serve your wellbeing.  These may be things you have been wanting to do, but haven’t made the time for because you didn’t really see how to put yourself up at the top of the important things to do list.  Well, now is the time.  Pull out a piece of paper, or open a new document in your computer and let’s make the list.  Title it something like this:

Things I Am Going To Do To Be A Happier Me Everyday

OR, Things I Am Going To Do So I Can Smile More and Have More Fun

Once you have your heading, write the following line next:

“I commit to doing the things on the following list for the next 3 weeks, beginning today.  At the end of that time, I will recommit for the following 3 weeks, and so on until I notice a shift in how how much better I feel in my life.”

At that point, this new way of living will have become your normal way of living!

Ok, now put things on your list like:

*look online and find where I can go for guitar lessons, contact them, and sign up and GO!

*read for 15 minutes on my lunch break each day

*take time to meditate and just be each morning for 10 minutes before I begin the day

*take a full water bottle with me each day and drink it all before I get home

*call a friend and have lunch at a great place every other week

You know what to put on this list.  These are things that you know will serve your wellbeing and bring balance to your life.  This isn’t about you deserving it or about indulging yourself.  This is about a foundational principle for being your best self.   You will be better in all of the roles in your life, such as Mother, Child, Husband, Employee, Friend, Student, Sibling, all the many ways you are you in your life.  Once you embrace this principle of valuing yourself, the rest becomes clear and easier to do (stay tuned for where to from here with your Happiness Skills).

Meanwhile, post that list somewhere that you will see it everyday.  Maybe your bathroom mirror, kitchen cupboard or on your computer desk top.  Where will you put it so that you see it each day?  Do you use a planner (that can be a Happiness Skill!)?  If so, open that up and enter your new activities for the next 3 weeks.  Make an entry at the end of that time to review how it’s been going, and reenter everything for the next 3 weeks.  Nice job!!  Now get going taking good care of you.

SKILL REVIEW

1-    Caring for yourself is a guiding principle in your life

2-    Follow the guidelines above and make your list

3-    Post your list and enter these activities in your planner

4-    Give yourself a hug for taking these steps!