Begin with you.
You’re invited, and bring your friends.
If you could have one beautiful thing happen tomorrow, it would be~
For what are you longing~
Consider your requirements to feel happy, healthy, and strong.
Caring for you is not selfish. It’s a necessity.
It is time for a revolution of honesty about what you need.
Self care is ongoing attention to your well-being.
Self care is also specific practices and activities.
Start with your morning.
Fill the well first.
What do you need to begin an intentional, grounded, and beautiful day~
Bathing
Prayer
Meditation
Cup of something warm
Glass of something blended or squeezed
Yoga
Exercise
Journal or Morning Pages
Reading
Walking the dog
Walking you
This is a requirement.
Structure your day so your self care comes first.
If you have morning practices, see and appreciate them.
If you need to begin, choose one.
When you go to bed tonight, consider how you will begin tomorrow. Commit from your heart.
Then tell someone what you did.
Show up for yourself.
Look at what you already know.
Find your journal, notepad, or click here.
Title this My Self Care.
List who and what nourishes you.
Who and what brings contentment and beauty.
How you relax.
How you get energized.
People
Animals
Rituals
Activities
Movement
Practices
Places
Landscapes
Other
Star the items that are necessary and present for you today. Circle or highlight the ones that require a deeper commitment.
Do it with Devotion.
Visualize some of you
Free-write or click here. No judging or thinking too much. Let the answers arrive.
- Today I am feeling
- What I wish were different about life is
- What I appreciate about life is
- I get excited about
- I dread
- I will protect myself better from these things by
- I feel most like myself when
- Things I do for money or others is
- Things I do for love are
- What would happen during my most perfect day
- Right now what I need to know is
- I am grateful for
- Make a list of ways you want to feel. Star five, then circle or highlight three. Write them down somewhere else—on your mirror, on a post-it, in the front of your journal….
I create myself.
Commit more deeply, Sankalpa Shakti
Go to your My Self Care list. Notice the circled ones that require a deeper commitment. Choose one for the following process.
The Sanskrit word sankalpa comes from san, connecting to our higher truth, and kalpa, vow. It is making a heartfelt determination to be more fully ourselves, who we already are. Tradition holds that sankalpa arrives when your spirit knows what you need.
A sankalpa can be a realization that inspires a direction~ I am already whole. I only need relationships who honor who I am.
Specific sankalpas support our larger purpose. I need to move more during winter. I am going to the gym and walking 3 x a week.
Very important is sankalpa shakti~ the energy in specific actions that support your determination. Put out the gym clothes, set an alarm, and download an audiobook.
Create the sankalpa in your mind or write it down. Use present tense. Invoke sankalpa shakti to name specific steps. These may arrive gradually rather than instantly.
Finally, be ready for the impulse to avoid your sankalpa. Pause and remember how you want to feel. Re-ignite your resolve. You are reprogramming neural pathways, and this takes conscious effort.
Rinse and repeat this process whenever you need it.
Remain in Joy
Share, connect, and receive support
- Send this to a friend and devise ways to support each other.
- Call someone to go for a walk. Talk about your self care.
- If you’re on Facebook, click here for the Luminaire page for mindset and self-care Live pep talks.
- Click here to subscribe for updates from Luminaire, Community Hub McCall, or Mavens’ Haven.
Upcoming Events
The Return
Wisdom from the Hero’s Journey on crossing the return threshold back to work, the default world, or the next stage in your journey.
Podcast episode
Virtual presentation with slides of art, stories, poetry, and film clips.
Personal Retreats at Mavens’ Haven in Lucile, Idaho
Immerse yourself in peace and quiet on the Salmon River. Let the beautiful grounds of Mavens’ Haven give you a little time to yourself.
The Self Care Initiative is created by Luminaire and its patrons.
The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention….The reward for attention is always healing….More than anything else, attention is an act of connection.
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Images by Jackie Sommer