Self-Care Rituals

How often do you show your body, spirit, mind, and emotions how much you care?
Begin to engage in self-care rituals as a sign of self respect, self esteem, self nurture, self acceptance, self honor, and self love. Even if you feel like destroying yourself. Seriously.
Can you be more allowing of the healing on all levels to take place and integrate within you, so that you can give yourself a break? Catching a break does not work unless you grant yourself that break. Do not postpone, and begin making time to deliver what nourishes your spirit and soul to you.

Make time for yourself and become so devoted that you and everyone around you won’t recognize what has happened to you.

Don’t make this a big deal and start the train of excuses of not having enough time, money, or friends in order to love yourself, because your body is most likely crying for some peace and inner tranquility.

Try any of the following activities and stick to what makes you feel good. After all, feeling good and feeling good about yourself is the point, isn’t it?

• A walk in the forest, park, around the lake, or at the beach without electronic devices
• Yoga – vinyasa, hatha, yin, Forrest, Dahn, or restorative
• Magnesium salt bath/foot soak with baking soda (enhance with essential oils and luxurious beeswax candles)
• Meditation or moving meditation
• Tai chi/chi gong
• Visit a hot springs or mineral lake on a road trip
• Earthing: simply connect your feet or body to the ground (not asphalt)
• Sing, hum, or dance to your favorite song
• Chant a mantra and see if you can keep track of the number of cycles in your head
• Doodle with any medium on a piece of paper or canvas
• Smudge pigments around (or if you are inclined and creative, paint your heart out)
• Dance like you mean it, as if no one is watching, and dance for yourself
• Light some incense and put your feet up against the wall, then take 10 deep breaths
• Visit a spa and relax in steam room and saunas for 15-20 minute increments; sweat it out and hydrate with alkalizing water (adding organic apple cider vinegar and a touch of raw honey helps digestive system detox)
• Visit a botanical or herbal garden, and see what new plants you can learn, or just observe and enjoy the beauty
• Visit eccentric places that you normally would not visit
• Get a full-body tension melting massage or try reflexology
• Shake your head to loosen up your facial muscles, and repeat until you are willing to smile or chuckle or the silliness of how you might look if someone walks in
• Go to the library and wander through the self development section. What catches your attention?
• Take a nap with some baked hot stones wrapped in towels and a cozy blanket
• Find silliness or humor in your surroundings – what’s that dog or cat doing?
• Visit your gratitude journal and write at least a page of what you appreciate recently
• Cook a meal for yourself with ingredients that you personally select, and craft a meal from scratch with local, organic, and fresh ingredients and spices; take a cooking class to gain or improve your cooking skills
• Bake something in your oven, such as butternut squash, sweet potatoes, roasted veggies, or carrots in butter and garlic – enjoy these warm
• Got essential oils? Put them to good use and vaporize in water or dilute them in an appropriate carrier oil before applying them to the back of your neck and temples
• Imagine your best vacation ever and feel what it’s like with all your worries aside

 

These are just some ideas. Possibilities are really limitless and your intuition would know best. The trick is to allow yourself to be gravitated towards healing activities that makes you feel peaceful, calm, happy, or excited (in a giddy way) because you never knew life could be this good.

I hope this list inspires you to take action today to try something new and develop a plan to implement a routine on a regular basis so that you can continue to stay in touch with yourself, expand your love, and care for others around you by taking the best care of yourself.