We learned in the Top 5 Misconceptions About Self-Care there is a false image out there regarding what true self-care entails and to break through this, we must understand what REAL self-care is.
As a Certified Self-Care Coach, I focus on 4 main pillars: Body, Mind, Heart, and Spirit. Each of these plays an important role in developing your holistic self-care plan and allowing you to get closer to being your best self. Below you will find out more about what each pillar entails as well as some simple steps you can take starting today towards bettering your self-care!
Body - YOUR Nutritional and Physical Health.
What are you feeding your body? What are you doing with your body? Are you active with it? Are you stagnant with it? Does it perform the way that you want it to? What is it that you're giving it daily to thrive and do you have an understanding of what ingredients you're actually consuming? Most self-care journeys start here and we typically will build a foundation from your physical body up!
As you're starting your journey with your body, self-awareness will be key. Learning how to safely push your physical limits through your workouts and listening to your body when it needs rest is a great place to start. Starting a journal for your health goals allows you to gain self-awareness as you’re able to see your progress and where you’d like to improve. Trying new foods or recipes each time you go to the grocery store, or even each month, is a great way to improve your personal menu and increase your nutritional health by adding variety.
Mind- YOUR Mental and Emotional Health.
This also has to do with what you consume because what you're feeding your mind is what you're going to get back out of it. For example, negativity. You can’t have a negative mindset and honestly expect to live a positive life, can you? Self-Care for your mental and emotional health has to do with your coping and stress management, as well as a lot of Shadow Work. You're going to break a lot of limiting beliefs, you're going to break a lot of patterns, and every single time that you reach a new level, kind of like in a video game, it gets hard right before that next level. You have to master whatever lesson you’re meant to learn at this time before you can go on. You reach these different levels by taking care of yourself.
When doing self-care around your mind, understand that your brain’s only goal is to keep you safe. It is constantly storing information from the events in your life and then planning out every possible outcome without you realizing it. In trying to keep you safe, it also wants to keep you with what is familiar and inside of your comfort zone. As you gain self-awareness and increase your mindset via affirmations, meditation, learning new skills, and moderating your consumption, you’ll be able to work through any trauma you have stored that is affecting you subconsciously, as well as consciously create whatever you’d like in front of you.
Heart - YOUR Relationships and Boundaries.
Obviously, your heart can deal with whoever you love or whatever it is that you love in this world, and it does, but it honestly deals more with your relationship with yourself and in the community that you cultivate around you. Do you trust yourself? When you don't, do you have a support system? Are there people there for you who you can call if you need someone? How are you building into yourself? Who are you personally building into and adding value to this world? What boundaries are you putting in place in order to protect yourself and your energy? It's important to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships that don't drain you, your passions, or your energy.
In order to grow a self-care practice around your heart, you have to be open to expanding into your passions and your creative abilities, while also forming protection through boundaries around those things and yourself to sustain it. Knowing what hobbies you enjoy and what makes your heart sing comes with trying new things and being open to the possibilities. Taking a class, going to a show or festival, laying in the grass staring at the clouds, whatever it is that makes you truly happy, do more of that!
Spirit- YOUR True and Highest Self.
Taking it a step further, what sets your soul on fire? What are you feeding your soul? Are you connected to the earth or a higher power? What do you believe in? Is there anything that you’re holding onto from the past? Is there anything that you could benefit from expressing whether that be grief, sadness, relief, or excitement, joy, and bliss? Do you feel peace throughout your daily life? With Self-Care, we are all individually unique and connected while being designed to thrive while we are alive!
To take care of yourself spiritually requires a bit of faith. What you believe in is completely up to you, however, it requires you to take a step back for a moment. We must realize that we are all connected in some way and each action of another plays a ripple in the collective as yours do. When you let go of blame and take responsibility for your choices, when you decide to forgive, or when you simply live in alignment with who you are through self-awareness, you’ll begin to see shifts throughout your life as well as in the world around you. Simple ways to begin your spiritual self-care practice include spending time alone without distractions (aka anything with a screen), being out in nature, starting a gratitude journal, cleansing your space, and allowing yourself to rest peacefully.
Let's Wrap Up
Self-care is different for everyone so what works for you may not work for Sally down the street. What is important is to start somewhere with what you know you can do, then over time add to it. Start with one intentional action/activity from each of the pillars above and begin to create your routine around those top 4 intentional activities. The goal here is to have a holistic self-care plan to where you feel balanced and your best throughout the day. It does no good to work out 9 hours a day if you’re going to store enough anger you could take it out on puppies.
Each of the above self-care tips are simple to do, and most, you can implement into your life easily starting right this minute. What can be a bit more challenging to do is to be consistent with your new practices. If you need some additional support on your journey feel free to reach out to me at bybs@chelseameece.com or to join us in Self-Care Central, a clubhouse I created to be your one-stop-shop for ongoing self-care solutions HERE!
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